Assessment cases
Communal Water Plan
Lighthouse: Urban
Localization in Brussels

NBS short description

The Communal Water Plan is co-constructed with water stakeholders of its territory. Many plans and projects, that very in size and scales have been suggested. Many of them support and lean on a strong pillar of participatory culture and community building.

Local governance profile

Piazza Rossini is a public space own by the Municipality of Bologna.

Geographic area

Brussels has green spaces (though unevenly distributed and concentrated on its peripheries). The hills going up from the canal are old catchments. Brussels emerged in a swampy environment on the floodplain of the Zenne River. The city gradually expanded from the 19th century to become the city we  know today. The marshy area was taken up further and further  by construction and, for reasons of hygiene, an increasing part  of the hydrographic network was vaulted, or even filled in. The vaulted rivers were considered part of the sewage system.

Who owns the land?

Diverse and diffuse ownership structures. The city and the social housing companies own some buildings in the perimeter. Opportunities for pilots can be found near owned (social) houses or buildings, where the city can bring additional stimulus surrounding the integration of water measures in co-design processes, on top of the bottom-up dynamic. 

Relevance for the lighthouse

Asessment of the municipal experience in developing projects in partnership with a variety of water actors. Assessing these learning experiences will support in increasing and enhancing NBS uptake in the Brussels context.

Related projects with synergies

› Vooruit met de wijk (Forward with the neighborhood): project call for neighbors
› CDQ/contrat école

Governance of the case

Governance structures including local and regional water stakeholders (e.g. in CWP) - Neighbourhood Councils, participatory budgeting, and co-creation projects such as Brusseau and URBiNAT.

Local partners, associations, initiatives and champions engaged

Brussels municipality, regional organisations, local partners (universities, institutional partners, SMEs, inhabitants) and the water partners of the CWP in general. Neighbourhood council, Brusseau-network. EGEB-network