New Awesome Collaboration

It was an exciting Sunday!

In collaboration with Urbanistas Brussels – Feminist Collective and CASI-UO – Italian Community Action Centre, we took part in their Urban Challenge.

Our mission was to welcome around 40 groups of five participants, share an urban insight, and facilitate a challenge that people could complete independently through a mini-workshop.

We introduced participants to our perspective on the POPS Paradox: a space that is fully public in ownership, yet somehow feels private in practice.

We then invited participants to carefully observe a large, sterile public space and search for traces of both human and non-human life.

The response was incredible. Everyone immediately understood the mission, and the results exceeded our expectations.

Here are just some of the things they discovered:

• Grass growing between the paving tiles
• Traces of urine
• Fingerprints on shop windows
• Pigeons gathering and feeding in one specific location
• A cyclist using an inaccessible structure to perform tricks
• A person sleeping
• Chewing gum marks
• A hidden faucet
• A shell

And the list goes on.

It was a fascinating workshop that revealed how even the most controlled and seemingly sterile public spaces are constantly being reclaimed, adapted, and inhabited in unexpected ways.

Starting in September, we will integrate this workshop into our DE-Gentrification Tours.