Scaled Visualization Against Gentrification

Imagine standing in the middle of your neighborhood and seeing, at full scale, what a massive new development would look like — before it’s built. A 1:1 in-situ model that lets you experience the real height, volume, and shadow of the planned buildings. You could walk around, see how the light changes, and truly understand the impact these new structures will have on daily life.

Could that become a mini anti-gentrification tool?

Last week, we witnessed an on-site action organized by two well-known Brussels organizations fighting for just urban development — Bral and IEB. Their struggle centers on dismantling speculative developments and demanding far more social housing than initially proposed.

In this case, the site in question was once public industrial land, later sold into private hands. After being reclassified as residential, its value skyrocketed — a textbook case of land value capture and speculative urbanism. The new “luxury” development, with its exclusive features and private amenities, exemplifies how urban space is transformed into an engine for wealth accumulation rather than a place for collective life.

The organizations’ main goal remains clear: increase social housing and open the development to the public. Yet, between corporate protectionism and bureaucratic inertia, citizen engagement is being suffocated. Residents simply don’t have the time or resources to decode technical plans and respond meaningfully before decisions are locked in.

During the action, residents used a powerful gesture: they traced, directly on the ground, the shadows that the future buildings will cast over the adjacent public park. This simple visual act made invisible impacts suddenly visible. It was both poetic and political.

That moment sparked a thought — what if we could go even further?

What if we could see the real scale of future buildings in real time?

Imagine using drones or laser projections to outline the contours of proposed structures across the skyline. Seeing their physical footprint with your own eyes — not through glossy renders or VR goggles, but in the shared urban space where life unfolds.

VR, while impressive, still isolates you inside another reality. What’s needed is a collective, embodied experience — a way for everyone, not just experts, to perceive and debate the real, spatial consequences of development. Most citizens (and even professionals) struggle to visualize scale and volume from drawings or 3D models. Technology can bridge that gap.

At the very least, citizens deserve to see the future world around them before it arrives.

Scaled visualization — whether through light, projection, or physical installations — could become a democratic tool to challenge speculative urbanism and gentrification. It’s about reclaiming visibility, agency, and imagination in the making of the city.