Description

Brussels, or the City of Brussels, is a municipality in Belgium with a population of 188,737. It is the capital of Belgium, the seat of the French Community and the Flemish Community, and home to several European Union institutions, including the European Commission and the committees of the European Parliament, as well as the headquarters of NATO (on its Haren section).

The City of Brussels has been committed to the climate for many years now, with an Agenda 21 since 2008 and a first Climate Plan in 2018. The municipality wishes to accelerate the change with a new Climate Plan. To find concrete solutions that take into account the realities of the population, the City of Brussels organised a wide-ranging participatory process in 2021: nearly 700 citizens worked in 46 meetings and workshops, giving rise to more than 300 courses of action, which were then exploited by the municipal administration's experts.

 The participatory approach was rolled out in a number of ways:

• Street interviews with local residents,
• Meetings in the neighbourhoods around the Babbeleir, a mobile table set up in the public space to arouse curiosity and encourage informal encounters.
• Themed workshops with citizens and experts. These meetings took place at the City Hall and were attended by project leaders involved in the theme, regional players and other local authorities, as well as representatives of the administration and consultancies involved. Six workshops were organised, each focusing on a different theme: sustainable food (15/07), biodiversity and green spaces (6/07), waste and the circular economy (13/07), water (8/07), energy (8/09) and mobility (5/07).
• Interviews with young people aged between 16 and 25 in public spaces.

In all, 212 people were met in the public space, 101 people at themed workshops, 146 people at Babbeleir and 217 young people (aged 14-22) in the city's neighbourhoods, parks and school playgrounds.

The main objective was to link the concerns of residents that emerged during the consultations with current projects and existing achievements within the city and at other levels (other municipalities, the region, citizen-led projects). Emphasis was placed on the issues of greatest concern to local residents and the questions that arise as a result: "We need to prioritise the climate emergency in all our decisions" "Why not make electric bicycles available? "In new buildings, rainwater should be collected". Proposals were drawn up for the city's new Climate Plan.

The most striking themes for action are :

• Water management
• Sustainable food
• Biodiversity
• Waste and the circular economy
• Energy
• Mobility

This consultation with citizens and the proposals that came out of it were taken into account in the development of the city's climate plan, which was presented during 2022.

Sources of information (in French)

Citizen participation in drawing up the 2022 Climate Plan

• https://www.bruxelles.be/plan-climat
• https://www.bruxelles.be/sites/default/files/bxl/Rapport_Participation.pdf

Climate Plan of the City of Brussels - adopted in December 2022

• https://www.bruxelles.be/sites/default/files/bxl/014_Plan_Climat_FR_1.pdf
• https://www.bruxelles.be/sites/default/files/bxl/PC_2023_PL_03_A5_06_FR_WEB_v2.pdf_VERSION_WEB.pdf

The Babbeleir

• https://rool.be/en/project/babbeleir/