Resisting Gentrification: Alternatives for the Brussels Canal

The Brussels Canal zone has been reevaluated in a highly lucrative way, driven by joint partnerships between entrepreneurial elites and local authorities. This kind of top-down planning process leaves little space for grassroots participation and is a hallmark of gentrification. While it often brings new investments and development, it also raises questions about inclusivity, accessibility, and who truly benefits from the transformation of urban spaces.
How could have we avoid Gentrification around the canal area in Brussels?

It’s often said that there are no alternatives to gentrification—that it simply has to happen if we want to improve our cities. But this idea is completely wrong. Urban change does not need to mean displacement and exclusion. In fact, for the Brussels Canal area, there were many inspiring alternatives and community-driven ideas that could have reshaped the zone in more inclusive ways:

1.Encouraging productive cities
Instead of prioritizing speculative real estate, small-scale and authentic production could have been supported in the heart of Brussels. The canal area was especially well-suited for this vision, offering space for creative industries and local manufacturing.

2.Rethinking vertical factories
Architect and researcher Nina Rappaport, in her book Vertical Urban Factories, shows how industrial activity can return to cities in innovative forms. Applying this idea to Brussels, factories could have been reintegrated into the urban fabric, creating opportunities for the existing working-class communities to remain in place, while gaining new skills and adapting to contemporary industries.

3.Reviving the canal as public infrastructure
The canal could have become more than a backdrop for luxury apartments. Transforming it into a transport corridor—with ferries connecting neighborhoods—would have tied communities together and provided a sustainable alternative to car dependency.

4.Building social housing with dignity
Imagine the canal lined with beautiful, high-quality social housing—a stronghold of popular centrality where people of all backgrounds could live close to the city center. This would strengthen social bonds and resist the pressures of speculative development.

These ideas existed. They were discussed. But many were sidelined in favor of rapid, short-term growth policies that often prove unsustainable in the long run.

Gentrification is not inevitable. There are alternatives. The fight is about making these alternatives visible—and making sure they are heard. Stay tuned, and let’s keep pushing back.