The municipality of Anderlecht and the Brussels-Capital Region have concluded a sustainable neighbourhood contract for the Passer neighbourhood for the period 2014-2018. To determine the exact use of the investments committed to infrastructure and socio-economic projects, BUUR has elaborated in cooperation with IPE Collectif a basic programme built on a thematic diagnosis, an urban concept phase and a participative process with the involved institutional partners, the neighbourhood organizations and the inhabitants. The neighbourhood contract fits within of a new generation of urban renewal policies by taking into account the global vision of the Guide Plan (‘Gidsplan’) which stipulates cross-neighbourhood urban planning directives and bundles the funding of all the involved regional authorities among which Citydev and the Brussels Institute for the Management of the Environment (BIM/IBGE).
The Passer neighbourhood, bounded between the Ninove Gate, the canal and the slaughterhouses of the ‘Abattoir’, is in the midst of transformation. The future relocation of the existing car trade companies will represent an opportunity to reconvert or transform certain plots and buildings into public services, housing or new forms of economic activities. The idea of concentrating the interventions to a limited number of poles will prevent fragmentation, which was a major issue of former neighbourhood contracts within the perimeter. By focussing on certain poles, the visibility and the impact of the sustainable neighbourhood contract will be strengthened. The opening up of the historic course of the Zinneke, a lost and forgotten tributary of the Zenne River, and its transformation into a collective, green open space will act as a guideline for all these reconversion projects. This new green corridor winding through this densely built up area will increase the permeability and the liveability of the neighbourhood.
