City Of Brussels Research Articles

The transition towards a healthy and sustainable food system at local level: the Brussels City case

Abstract Despite the European Union’s political efforts to promote healthier and more sustainable food systems, challenges persist, with these systems not yet achieving sustainability and still exacerbating health inequalities. The EU-funded FEAST project aims to catalyse this transition through different actions including by focusing on mapping factors shaping food environments in five European cities, including Brussels. This study focuses on mapping existing policies and initiatives by the city government supporting healthier and more sustainable food systems in Brussels City. Policies were then categorized based on Food-EPI domains, types of policies (i.e. financial incentive) and role of the government (i.e. policy development). Results indicated that while Brussels City has a clear strategy (Good Food Strategy) and objectives (Climate Action Plan) to support the transition, there is a notable emphasis on sustainability over health which could be explained by the absence of a dedicated public health expert in the local government. While there are numerous policies focused on improving the school environment (i.e. healthy and sustainable canteens, banned sodas and snack provision, forbidden advertising inside and nearby of unhealthy foods), there is a lack of corresponding measures for public spaces. Furthermore legislative policies are practically inexistent possibly due to jurisdictional barriers from higher governmental levels. Stakeholder interviews will be conducted in the next phase to delve deeper into these issues and to explore potential facilitators and barriers faced in the development and implementation process of these policies. Overall, this research sheds light on the policy landscape in Brussels City, highlighting both progress, areas for improvement and policy gaps in advancing towards healthier and more sustainable food systems. Key messages • Despite EU political efforts to prioritise more sustainable food systems, relevant barriers are still present at local level in Brussels City, hampering the development and implementation of policies. • In Brussels relevant policies for healthier and more sustainable food systems have been implemented, especially in the school environment, but health seems to be overshadowed by sustainability.

Why Brussels? Neruda’s ‘título absolutamente enigmático’

The primary purpose of this article is to propose a solution to longstanding literary mystery, namely, why Neruda’s disconcertingly enigmatic poem ‘Bruselas’ (from Tercera residencia [1947]) has a title which seems to bear little if any relation either to the city of Brussels itself or to its sometimes bewilderingly obscure content and imagery. The answer to this puzzle, I argue, lies deeply buried in Neruda’s biography—so deeply, however, that the core intelligibility of the text may be compromised as consequence. This raises questions concerning what might be deemed reasonable readerly competence in relation to both ‘Bruselas’ itself and, by extension, to some of the other, more hermetic, Residencia poems.

Spatial Variation of Airborne Pollen Concentrations Locally around Brussels City, Belgium, during a Field Campaign in 2022–2023, Using the Automatic Sensor Beenose

As a growing part of the world population is suffering from pollen-induced allergies, increasing the number of pollen monitoring stations and developing new dedicated measurement networks has become a necessity. To this purpose, Beenose, a new automatic and relatively low-cost sensor, was developed to characterize and quantify the pollinic content of the air using multiangle light scattering. A field campaign was conducted at four locations around Brussels, Belgium, during summer 2022 and winter–spring 2023. First, the consistency was assessed between the automatic sensor and a collocated reference Hirst-type trap deployed at Ixelles, south-east of Brussels. Daily average total pollen concentrations provided by the two instruments showed a mean error of about 15%. Daily average pollen concentrations were also checked for a selection of pollen species and revealed Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients ranging from 0.71 to 0.93. Subsequently, a study on the spatial variability of the pollen content around Brussels was conducted with Beenose sensors. The temporal evolution of daily average total pollen concentrations recorded at four sites were compared and showed strong variations from one location to another, up to a factor 10 over no more than a few kilometers apart. This variation is a consequence of multiple factors such as the local vegetation, the wind directions, the altitude of the measurement station, and the topology of the city. It is therefore highly necessary to multiply the number of measurement stations per city for a better evaluation of human exposure to pollen allergens and for more enhanced pollen allergy management.

Multi-criteria thermal resilience certification scheme for indoor built environments during heat waves

With climate change, the indoor built environment is expected to significantly influence the occupant's safety and well-being. A novel multi-criteria thermal resilience certification scheme for indoor built environments during extreme heat events is proposed in this paper. The certification scheme considers overheating, thermal comfort, heat stress, and hygrothermal discomfort in built environments. These criteria are quantified using key performance indicators like indoor overheating degree, hours of exceedance, wet-bulb globe temperature, and heat index, respectively. This scheme is developed based on existing best practices like standards, rating systems, and literature. The scheme is implemented on a benchmark building energy performance model for detached post-World War II dwellings in Belgium as a case study using weather data measured from the City of Brussels. The indoor overheating in the reference dwelling is assessed with a static threshold of 27 °C for the bedrooms and adaptive thresholds for other areas. The analysis found that the building performance is within the defined threshold levels throughout the heat wave duration for all criteria. Therefore, the reference dwelling got a maximum attainable score of four points and is rated five-star for thermal resilience during heat waves. The proposed certification scheme is intended as a standardized framework and highlights the need for further revisions in building performance policies and guidelines.

From art object to rubble

This article investigates the impact of the valuation of demolition materials on its ultimate destination in the city of Brussels between 1860 and 1940 via an analysis of municipal policy on demolition. It examines the process of revaluation and devaluation in buildings, shifting the focus from large-scale urban developments to individual elements and materials. The study entails an analysis of the rules embedded in the building regulations and specifications for demolition projects, as well as records, reports and correspondence illustrating the enforcement of these rules. A brief outline of the legal and administrative framework is followed by a discussion of the criteria used in categorizing and evaluating demolition materials.
 In the period under consideration the Brussels city council, in common with many European municipal governments, embraced large-scale demolition operations as a radical solution to the challenges facing city centres. The stable policy during the period 1860-1940 exhibited various valuation processes across comparable demolition projects. The Brussels authorities pursued a stratified policy, integrating the different categories of demolition materials according to their nature and value. These categories comprised (1) treasures, artworks, objects related to numismatics and natural history, and all other objects of any value, (2) materials and objects, and (3) rubble, soil and waste.
 The city prioritized artworks and objects of artistic or historical value, over which it retained ownership, and invested in the preservation, exhibition and reuse of such materials. Other demolition materials were sold to the demolition contractors, meaning that the city government had little direct influence over their ultimate destination. Nevertheless, the building inspector estimated the financial value of the various materials and objects prior to organizing a public sale of these materials. The limited interest in rubble and waste evident in the administrative documents did not necessarily point to an absence of policy, but rather to the relation between various categories of demolition materials. By drawing attention to their financial value, the public sale of such materials not only generated financial returns for the city, but also indirectly influenced the reuse of these materials and so also the proportion of rubble and building waste.
 As such, the study serves to clarify the dynamics between revaluation and devaluation of demolition materials. This new perspective on demolition materials illustrates their role in policymaking with respect to large-scale urban transformation projects. It contributes to a broader understanding of the importance of the reuse of demolition materials in the period between 1860 and 1940, and sheds light on the relation between urban development, heritage preservation, reuse and waste management.

Unveiling the Spatial Distribution of Heat Demand in North-West-Europe Compiled with National Heat Consumption Data

Space and water heating for residential and commercial buildings amount to a third of the European Union’s total final energy consumption. Approximately 75% of the primary energy is still produced by burning fossil fuels, leading to high greenhouse gas emissions in the heating sector. Therefore, policymakers increasingly strive to trigger investments in sustainable and low-emission heating systems. This study forms part of the “Roll-out of Deep Geothermal Energy in North-West-Europe”-project and aims at quantifying the spatial heat demand distribution in the Interreg North-West-Europe region. An open-source geographic information system and selected Python packages for advanced geospatial processing, analysis, and visualization are utilized to constrain the maps. These were combined, streamlined, and optimized within the open-source Python package PyHeatDemand. Based on national and regional heat demand input data, three maps are developed to better constrain heat demand at a high spatial resolution of 100 m × 100 m (=1 ha) for the residential and commercial sectors, and for both together (in total). The developed methodology can not only be applied to transnational heat demand mapping but also on various scales ranging from city district level to states and countries. In addition, the workflow is highly flexible working with raster data, vector data, and tabular data. The results reveal a total heat demand of the Interreg North-West-Europe region of around 1700 TWh. The spatial distribution of the heat demand follows specific patterns, where heat demand peaks are usually in metropolitan regions like for the city of Paris (1400 MWh/ha), the city of Brussels (1300 MWh/ha), the London metropolitan area (520 MWh/ha), and the Rhine-Ruhr region (500 MWh/ha). The developed maps are compared with two international projects, Hotmaps and Heat Roadmap Europe’s Pan European Thermal Atlas. The average total heat demand difference from values obtained in this study to Hotmaps and Heat Roadmap Europe is 24 MWh/ha and 84 MWh/ha, respectively. Assuming the implementation of real consumption data, an enhancement in spatial predictability is expected. The heat demand maps are therefore predestined to provide a conceptual first overview for decision-makers and market investors. The developed methods will further allow for anticipated mandatory municipal heat demand analyses.

Is Brussels a ‘Care city’? A gender investigation on the effects of the public transportation system on carers’ lives

The aim of this paper is to explore the complex dynamics between issues of care, gender, and mobility, trying to reflect on the characteristics of an urban environment designed to meet the needs of women working in the care sector, regardless of their ethnicity, age, social status, physical condition, or sexual orientation and definition. By choosing the city of Brussels as an adequate case study we especially focus on the impact of the city’s mobility sector on the daily life of migrant female care workers, and of vulnerable groups more generally. This ongoing research is based on a theoretical framework (stemming from existing literature) from which we have extrapolated a set of parameters to structure the data collection (by interviews) and the theoretical and graphical elaborations. To address and respond to the multiple crises we are facing today, in our view it is crucial to call for a radical change in our urban design processes, directing our efforts toward implementing more inclusive urban models and practices. Our methodology gave us an opportunity to critically reflect on the possibilities that gender-driven urban policies and practices could open for our cities (and societies) towards a more sustainable and inclusive future for all.

From Slums to Community: The Urban Turn of Catholicism in Post-War Brussels (1950-1975)

Adding to research on the link between religion and urbanization, this article explores how the notion of poverty influenced the relationship between Catholic actors and the city of Brussels (Belgium). It shows how the dynamics between clerics and urbanization changed on a local level because of the international renewal campaign of the Catholic Church in the 1960s. Before the Second Vatican Council, Catholics saw urban poverty as proof of the secularization process in modern European cities. From the 1960s onward, however, the Catholic clergy in Brussels—as well as in other European cities—started to refute the idea that religion and urbanization were irreconcilable, and instead urged for a positive attitude toward modern cities. By ceasing to associate modern cities with poverty, the Brussels vicariate stimulated its parish priests to engage in an active relationship with the city in order to shape its physical and social environment.

Beyond the split: re-imagining ‘Belgitude’ in contemporary Belgian cinema

ABSTRACT This article analyses how Belgian identity is articulated in contemporary Belgian cinema. Since the introduction of sound, Belgian cinema has been characterised by a divide between Flemish and Belgian francophone cinema. However, the twenty-first century has seen an increase in co-productions between the two communities. By analysing how these intranational co-productions relate to Belgium and Belgian identity, this article explores the textual implications of this industry trend. Drawing upon the concept of ‘Belgitude’, it teases out two ways in which Belgian identity is re-imagined. Some films explicitly thematise community issues by conveying a message of solidarity between Flanders and the French-speaking community of Belgium, while others show characters that embody Belgium’s cultural complexity, using multilingualism and the city of Brussels as implicit markers of Belgian identity. At odds with the country’s political climate of increasing tensions between the linguistic communities, the revival of ‘Belgitude’ in contemporary Belgian cinema can be considered as a reaction against Flemish nationalist discourses.

2023/4 Neutrality policy of City of Brussels not found discriminatory (BE)

2023/4 Neutrality policy of City of Brussels not found discriminatory (BE)

Evaluation of Temporary COVID-19 Testing Sites at Brussels Airport, Belgium: Users’ Comfort and Privacy

This paper explored the temporary facilities created during the pandemic for use as COVID-19 test centers at Zaventem Airport, the main airport for the city of Brussels, Belgium. The possibilities of modular construction technology and the impact of the building envelope on users’ perception of indoor space comfort and privacy were closely observed. The three main problem statements were as follows: (1) the COVID-19 crisis indirectly influenced the creation of temporary modular buildings with glass envelopes; (2) the modular envelope is adaptable to the existing context; and (3) the envelope meets the needs of the users. This study’s objectives were to identify the critical factors for users’ well-being in temporary modular buildings, and to conduct factor comparisons among different users and between different building-enclosure systems. The study data were collected through a subjective assessment using a SWOT analysis and a survey questionnaire. The glass facade affected the users’ acceptance levels of comfort and privacy. The main results show that the users were satisfied with the level of comfort and dissatisfied with the level of privacy. This information can be used to identify areas for improvement and provide useful feedback to designers and engineers about specific design features and operating strategies for temporary modular emergency healthcare buildings.

WALKSHOPS – TESTING A LOW THRESHOLD METHODOLOGY FOR PARTICIPATORY CITY MAKING

This research is about an inclusive, participatory methodology for smart city research: walking in the ‘datafied’ city. So-called walkshops facilitate experiences of and discussion about the environment in which social challenges arise, together with urban dwellers who may perceive them in different ways than decision-makers. We are investigating if walkshops provide a low-threshold methodology for meaningful involvement of all urban dwellers in technological decision-making, with a specific interest in the involvement of societal groups that are vulnerable. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for example, highlights the importance of transparency, accountability, and control of all technology users over the processing and use of their personal data. This includes so-called vulnerable data subjects. In smart, datafied cities, personal data protection provisions and rights could contribute to empowering urban dwellers. However, taking self-determined decisions regarding legal provisions and complex technical systems is often difficult, and nigh impossible for some. Despite the legal efforts to empower all data subjects vis-à-vis the processing of their personal data, inherent power imbalances remain, and the provisions hardly reach some groups. An important aim of the walkshop methodology is therefore to be inclusive and attractive for anyone. Against this backdrop, we describe how the methodology was tested, and evaluated during eighteen walks in the cities of Brussels, Gent, and Leuven. Evaluations by researchers, participants, and partner organisations, showed very promising results despite some methodological challenges (e.g. participant recruitment). Walkshops show the potential for socially relevant empirical work that creates win-win situations for researchers, public partners, and citizenries.

Estimation of Public Charging Demand Using Cellphone Data and Points of Interest-Based Segmentation

The race for road electrification has started, and convincing drivers to switch from fuel-powered vehicles to electric vehicles requires robust Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. This article proposes an innovative EV charging demand estimation and segmentation method. First, we estimate the charging demand at a neighborhood granularity using aggregated cellular signaling data. Second, we propose a segmentation model to partition the total charging needs among different charging technology: normal, semi-rapid, and fast charging. The segmentation model, an approach based on the city’s points of interest, is a state-of-the-art method that derives useful trends applicable to city planning. A case study for the city of Brussels is proposed. Our demand estimation results heavily correlate with the government’s predictions under similar assumptions. The segmentation reveals clear city patterns, such as transportation hubs, commercial and industrial zones or residential districts, and stresses the importance of a deployment plan involving all available charging technologies.

Giacomo Puccini—a great composer and a genius

Giacomo Puccini is one of the most renowned opera composers in the world. He continued the work of Giuseppe Verdi. Italian composer Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Grand Duchy of Tuscany on December 22, 1858. In 1880, he entered the Milan Conservatory, where he studied with the famous composer Ponchielli (1834–1886). Puccini began writing his last opera Turandot in poor health. The pains in the throat were very painful and prolonged. He showed symptoms of cancer of the larynx and, in the fall of 1924, the condition of the great composer worsened. On November 4, Giacomo Puccini traveled with his son Antonio to the city of Brussels, where he underwent radiation therapy. After the radiotherapy he temporarily felt better and in Brussels he attended the performance of the new opera La bohème for the last time. Puccini worsened and, on November 29, 1924, he died in Brussels, Belgium. The purpose of the scientific publication about Giacomo Puccini is to draw attention to the topic of diagnosis and treatment of cancer of the larynx. In most cases of cancer of the larynx, as well as in 90% of cases of head and neck cancer, prevention is possible thanks to lifestyle changes to avoid carcinogenic factors. We must emphasize that timely diagnosis of laryngeal cancer is a key to its therapy. Cancer of the larynx is curable in more than 70% of cases if diagnosed early. The diagnosis is made by an otorhinolaryngologist, who must do an endoscopic examination of the larynx.

SHUMEN CITIZENS IN BELGIAN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (END OF XIX - EARLY XX CENTURY)

The historical narrative depicts young people of Shumen who were educated in Belgian schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They studied in today's cities of Brussels, Liege, Ghent, Gembloux and Antwerp. In the period from 1879 to 1912, 39 young people born in Shumen studied in Belgian schools. Among them were the girls Hristina Velichkova and Elena Vitanova. Several of them studied at two or more universities. For example, Stefan Kurtev studied at the New and Old Universities in Brussels, as well as in Ghent, Boris L. Velev studied in Liege and Brussels. A significant number of these people later worked in various spheres of life – as military, officials, bankers, directors of institutions. Irrespective of the fact that some of them hadn’t graduated from the respective institutions, they returned to their homeland with a good knowledge of European languages and familiarity with the achievements of the Western European civilization. Their large number, as well as the specialties chosen by them, are a vivid testimony to the aspiration of the young people of Shumen to receive better education and to contribute to the modernization of the Third Bulgarian State and their native Shumen.

Downscaling ensemble climate projections to urban scale: Brussels's future climate at 1.5 °C, 2 °C, and 3 °C global warming

There is an increasing need to obtain climate projections for cities using an ensemble approach for uncertainty estimation. Yet, current-day computational resources are too limited to dynamically downscale GCM ensembles to urban scale. Here, a recently developed and validated statistical-dynamical computationally-cheap method is employed to downscale ten EURO-CORDEX climate projections over Brussels (Belgium) covering the period 1971–2100. Results show that, under the Paris agreement, summer mean projected temperature in Brussels will rise by 3.6 °C to 4.1 °C [+ − 0.7 °C] on average. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) intensity does not increase under future global warming with even a slight decrease under heatwave (HW) conditions by 0.1 °C (±0.1 °C). However, the number of HW days is projected to be 30.6% and 158.9% higher for the 2 °C and 3 °C Global Warming Levels (GWL), respectively, as compared to 1.5 °C GWL. The heat stress during HW periods also follows the same trend: compared to a 1.5 °C GWL, the number of extreme heat stress days at 2 °C (3 °C) GWL will increase by 29% (91%) on average inside the city. The results can be used in support of adaptation measures, which should be considered for future resilience of the city of Brussels.

The effects of a water-bound construction consolidation centre on off-site transport performance: the case of the Brussels-Capital Region

PurposeThe environmental logistics impact is significant in urban areas, characterised by high receptor densities, less accessible sites and limited storage space. With the aim to reduce negative externalities generated by urban construction transport and improve the use of existing inland waterway transport (IWT) infrastructure, the City of Brussels has implemented a water-bound Construction Consolidation Centre ((BCCC). While the concept of a CCC has been implemented in different European cities, limited impact studies are available. This paper assesses the environmental off-site road and IWT’s transport performance of the multimodal BCCC case. Design/methodology/approachThe sustainability impact is evaluated using economic external cost calculations, contextualised with transport planning indicators. Subsequently, findings are compared to business-as-usual (BAU) operations without a CCC as part of a scenario evaluation, for the 24 large construction sites supplied through the CCC between Sep-2019 and Dec-2020. FindingsImprovements in the IWT sector are necessary to tackle local emissions (NOx, PM) which rise significantly compared to BAU (+257 %), mainly attributable to less performant -yet ubiquitous- vessel engines and their long running life. In contrast, other externalities decrease, most noticeably on congestion costs (-91 %), climate change (-66 %), noise (-79 %) and infrastructure costs (-60 %). Overall, €49,404.67 of external costs are saved annually, a 58.72 % reduction compared to BAU. Additionally, improvements are observed on transport planning and efficiency, with 73 % timely deliveries and 93.32 % delivery compliance, hence respecting the Just-In-Time and Just-In-Place principles. Research limitations/implicationsPromising results are shown to incentivize industry and policy makers for adopting a CCC in light of alleviating the impact of urban construction logistics (CL), if the overall external costs and mobility impacts are considered. Results should be further compared to other logistic solutions to evaluate complementary measures, including more differentiated scenario evaluations. Practical implicationsAlthough IWT alleviates road network use, air pollution from vessels should be addressed. An IWT-CCC can offer decision-makers a transport planning solution to decrease urban nuisances and increase resource efficiency use, if specific IWT-CCC and CL applicability requirements are considered. Originality/valueThis paper adds knowledge to the sector’s impact mitigation potential using IWT-CCC, offering insights for decisional support and policy recommendations.

‘Funerary Culture Wars’ in Late 19th- and Early 20th-Century Europe and the Case of the Brussels’ Freethought Movement

Abstract This article explores how the control of religious authority over funerary culture became a contentious issue on a pan-European level during the course of the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. A comparative analysis of the conflicts around burial and cremation in various European nation-states highlights the two-dimensional character of these ‘funerary culture wars’. Freethinkers were radical players in these institutional and cultural conflicts as they challenged the tight grip of churches on the ‘death systems’ in their respective cities and countries. We will show how the institutional and cultural secularisation of funerary culture was not a universal and inevitable developmental trend but rather a historically variable and contingent outcome of social and political struggles around concrete change. We zoom in on the city of Brussels where freethinkers made new secular funerary practices very visible from the middle of the 19th century onwards.

Steering the free market through a food crisis? Fiscal policy and meat consumption in Brussels during the 1840s

ABSTRACT By the 1840s the Brussels city council had become distinctly liberal in its approach to the economy. Even the meat sector, once uniquely intensely regulated by urban authorities, had shed almost all early modern regulation and was largely left to the free market. However, the 1840s subsistence crisis and rising food prices increased pressure on lawmakers to intervene. This paper explores how, rather than returning to older consumer-protecting limits on the market such as price-setting, the council used its fiscal authority to ease its citizens’ burden. What appears from discussions on taxation is a great willingness to try to influence the free market through changing tax rates in favour of the interest of poor and labouring consumers. Unlike the shift from prices to health the literature suggests (Horowitz, Pilcher and Watts [2004]. “Meat for the Multitudes: Market Culture in Paris, New York City, and Mexico City over the Long Nineteenth Century.” The American Historical Review 109, no. 4 (October 2004): 1055–1083. doi:10.1086/530749), this consumer interest was interpreted as relating both to meat prices and meat quality and salubriousness. While the explicit focus on urban consumers was new, many arguments repeated early modern concerns of greedy butchers preying on poor consumers, with price and health as twin priorities. The new liberal regime, facing crisis, used new tools, but traditional discourse and conceptions of government responsibility persisted.

Geospatially Partitioning Public Transit Networks for Open Data Publishing

Public transit operators often publish their open data in a data dump, but developers with limited computational resources may not have the means to process all this data efficiently. In our prior work we have shown that geospatially partitioning an operator’s network can improve query times for client-side route planning applications by a factor of 2.4. However, it remains unclear whether this works for all network types, or other kinds of applications. To answer these questions, we must evaluate the same method on more networks and analyze the effect of geospatial partitioning on each network separately. In this paper we process three networks in Belgium: (i) the national railways, (ii) the regional operator in Flanders, and (iii) the network of the city of Brussels, using both real and artificially generated query sets. Our findings show that on the regional network, we can make query processing 4 times more efficient, but we could not improve the performance over the city network by more than 12%. Both the network’s topography, and to a lesser extent how users interact with the network, determine how suitable the network is for partitioning. Thus, we come to a negative answer to our question: our method does not work equally well for all networks. Moreover, since the network’s topography is the main determining factor, we expect this finding to apply to other graph-based geospatial data, as well as other Link Traversal-based applications.