Brussels Coopcity
The start situation
We are in the year 2030, Brussels has invested a lot in the city. They designed new parks and they turned many streets into green walking zones. Despite that the city has become greener many people have a desperate need for access to land. This rather poor neighborhood in Brussels has some potential. People with different motivations feel attracted to go to this place and start something here.
The dreams
Brian wants to help with urban farming projects. He wants to turn every forgotten spot in Brussels into a food-producing garden.
Erica and her daughter Louise want a decent house to live in. Erica has an interest in alternative housing techniques.
Antoinette wants a small service-flat with a balcony. She has green fingers and wants to keep a small balcony garden.
Patrick is a welder and he would love to start his own workshop. He needs some space to set up his tools. He would love to help out with repurposing and up-cycling practices.
Vacant land
Brian takes his chances, he takes a look in the neighborhood and found a perfect vacant lot to start a cool urban farming project. There would be enough space for some small houses and a workshop. Now he just needs to figure out who the owner is.
Meet Albert
He figured out that Monsieur Albert is the owner of the vacant lot. With a pretty solid business proposal he meets Albert. Despite his idealistic ideas Monsieur Albert had no intentions to sell the ground. He had other plans he said. Brian left empty-handed.
What went wrong?
Brian tried different other suited pieces of land and even old buildings but he got no luck. Eventually he left his dreams behind and moved on. Three years later he noticed that the same lot was still there, untouched. He could not understand what happened and why his reasonable proposal did not convince Albert.
Wolters Invest - A family owned business possesses several buildings and parking lots in the neighborhood.
Recturos NV - A private real estate company owns several large apartment blocks. They rent out apartments, offices, parking lots and construct new buildings.
Aldum Sprl - The property development business from Albert. He owns several vacant lots in this and other neighborhoods.
2035: The city keeps investing
In the meanwhile the city has invested in several projects to make this neighborhood more attractive. By doing so they hope to boost the neighborhood.
Cultural center - Next to the museum the city has invested in a new cultural center that houses several cultural and social organizations. They partnered with landscape architects who designed nice green public spaces.
Museum - An old building has been renovated and repurposed to become a new art museum
Church - The old church was in a bad condition but is considered a historical landmark so the city spent a large budget to renovate it and rebuilt the church square.
Metro - The city established a brand new metro line and new infrastructure.
School and sport center - The city renovated the secondary school and opened a new swimming pool.
Park and roads - A new park has been created and the surrounding roads are now bicycle and pedestrian friendly.
The deal is done
Albert meets François from Solvest group, a major project developer, specialized in urban development. In their portfolio they have many modern and spectacular buildings in Europe's largest cities. Albert receives a huge amount of money for his vacant lot and the old apartment block next to it.
Taxes
In the earlier years Albert rented out the apartment block and the open land and in the meanwhile he paid an amount of taxes for his properties. He could earn more than enough to pay taxes for his undervalued and underused properties. He externalized the costs on the people renting his properties and did not invest much in renovation projects while the city invested lots of public money in the neighborhood.
State of the art eco-building
The team of Francois has done a nice job. They have built a passive building with a green roof and vertical gardens. they turned part of the vacant lot into a beautiful, though private park. There is less space needed for cars due to a new subterranean parking, with a built-in electric recharge station.
A new green neighborhood
The neighborhood has done well, new sustainable buildings replaced the old buildings. The new neighborhood has become a postcard example of green sustainable city development.
An old dream
When Brian comes back to his old neighborhood, he too is charmed by what he sees. He decides to look for one of those nice green apartments. His dream to move here is smacked in pieces once again. The prices to live here are just way too expensive. For Brian, Erica, Antoinette and Patrick this part of the city will remain a dream.