PROJECT 1 | Mapping female politicians in Belgium and Brussels, 1949-1991
Despite the significant increase in women’s presence in Belgian politics, female politicians are still more invisible than their male colleagues: their names are less familiar, their experiences less documented, and their contributions less well-known. This holds for women currently in politics, but especially so for previous generations of political women. This project aims to contribute to the ‘making visible’ of female politicians in Belgium from a (micro-)historical perspective by shedding more and better light on the presence, backgrounds, achievements, and experiences of political women in Belgium and Brussels in the period 1949-1991. Inspired by the critical, multidisciplinary genre of ‘new biography’, the project has two ambitions. First, it aims to make an online inventory of all women in the Belgian national parliament and government between 1949 and 1991. Second, it will create in-depth political biographical accounts of a number of female politicians who were active in Brussels politics. These essays will shed light on their professional and personal trajectories within the larger Belgian and Brussels socio-political structures. They will be converted in popularized articles (for Bruzz or Knack) and feature in a podcast episode for the Universiteit van Vlaanderen. By pursuing these goals, the project is original in its multidisciplinary approach (combining history, political science, digital humanities, and gender studies) and its focus on engaged research (connecting academia with political and societal actors, in particular: the Belgian federal parliament, the historical research center AVG-Carhif, and Brussels politicians and journalists).
main contact persons
Nel de Mûelenaere (VUB) (Nel.de.Muelenaere@vub.be) • Silvia Erzeel (VUB) (Silvia.Erzeel@vub.be)
project partners
Anaïs Maes (Alderwoman of Town Planning) • Els Flour (AVG-Carhif) • Frederik Verleden (Deputy Director of the Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Documentation Service of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives) • Els Gossé (Alderwoman of Culture and Education)
PROJECT 2 | Building capitals: Untold histories of construction workers in Brussels and Kinshasa (1985-1973)
In the period between the 1958 Brussels World Exhibition and the 1973 global oil crisis, the ‘mirror cities’ Brussels and Kinshasa underwent a drastic urban transformation. Both modernization projects aimed to reimagine these cities as the capitals of their respective continents. The Belgian government was eager to turn Brussels into the administrative seat of Europe, whereas a Western-oriented Mobutu cherished similar ambitions to represent and independent Kinshasa as the future capital of the African continent. Though both the ‘Brusselization’ and —what we analogously called— ‘Kinshasization’ have received attention from urban scholars, the living and labour conditions of the many construction workers with often migratory backgrounds, who effectively built these highfalutin urban projects remained overlooked.
This project addresses this gap through a comparative study of the construction workers behind these major building programmes. Employing oral history research, we demystify the construction site, uncovering narratives regarding labour conditions, migratory backgrounds, and hierarchies of skill and company rank. By (re)valorising the memories of construction workers, we aim to understand the evolving institutional and legal frameworks, safety regulations, and labour union dynamics during this era. The comparative study equally aims to challenge or refine conventional perceptions of these capitals, questioning whether Brussels is defined by Europe’s welfarist regulations or if Kinshasa truly is the lawless city governed by the infamous adage 'débrouillez-vous.'
Tracing such historical dimensions, unfortunately, gains relevance in today's context, where construction industry labour scandals are increasingly prevalent.
main contact persons
Robby Fivez (VUB, ULB, UGent) (robby.fivez@vub.be) • Simon De Nys-Ketels (VUB, ULB, UGent) (simon.de.nys-ketels@vub.be) as part of the EOS-project “Construction History: Above and Beyond. What History Can Do for Construction History”
project partners
prof. dr. Benoît Henriet (VUB) • dr. Eva Swyngedouw (VUB) • dr. Trésor L. Bungiema (Université Kongo) • prof. dr. em. Christine Wall (University of Westminster)
PROJECT 3 | Beyond boundaries: Queer mobilities and spatial practices in Brussels
In the research project ‘Beyond Boundaries: Queer Mobilities and Spatial Practices in Brussels’, we aim to explore and map the mobility experiences and spatial practices of queer people in Brussels. While previous research has explored the link between mobility and concepts such as gender, income, ethnicity, age, and health, the relationship with queerness remains largely unexplored. Building upon existing research as a foundation for the methodology, the project will explore these experiences through focus groups and visual methods to establish a Brussels case study that can provide comparative insights with the case studies from earlier research. The project will be carried out by researchers from Mobilise, in collaboration with Brussels-based LGBTQ+ organisations the Rainbow House and Les Grands Carmes. The final visual output will be a current and potential future scenario of queer mobility in Brussels, created by the visual harvester. We will present these scenarios at a final event at one of the partner organisations. The project is foreseen to start in May 2024 and run until Spring 2025.
main contact person
Charlotte van Vessem (VUB) (charlotte.van.vessem@vub.be)
Other researchers: Juliana Betancur Arenas (Juliana.betancur.arenas@vub.be) • Imre Keserű (imre.keseru@vub.be)
project partners
Clémentine Delisse (Grands Carmes asbl/vzw) • Valentine Denis (RainbowHouse Brussels)
PROJECT 4 | Importance of unprotected urban green spaces in the Brussels Capital Region
Urban Green Spaces (UGS) have multiple benefits for city populations, both in socio-cultural (mental and physical health benefits) and environmental terms (biodiversity, rainwater management, air quality…). From a climate change adaptation perspective, the strategic use of UGS in current and future urban planning and management is expected to become even more important.
While the beneficial role of UGS with a protected status (e.g., public parks, Natura2000 habitats…) is recognized, the role of informal green spaces remains uncertain because they lack official status (no protection) or because they are considered temporary open/green spaces (e.g. wastelands, unbuilt plots, natural strips along railways…). Although one can assume these Unprotected Natural Urban Green Spaces (UNUGS) have similarly beneficial (local) impacts, their role remains understudied.
The objective of the proposal is two-fold: The central research question is to assess the importance of UNUGS in the Brussels context from a multidisciplinary perspective. This addresses a need expressed by We Are Nature.Brussels and citizen-experts who defend these areas, who have noted gaps in knowledge about UNUGS in Brussels. Therefore, a second objective is to establish a co-learning and co-creation trajectory amongst researchers, civil society and citizens to bridge the gap between these groups, enabling knowledge flows in relation to the UNUGS in all directions. The main deliverable will be an interdisciplinary product: a map of UNUGS in the Brussels Capital Region, indicating the importance of the UNUGS in terms of water management, urban heat and accessibility by residents, which will be interpreted through an environmental justice lens.
main contact persons
Boud Verbeiren (boud.verbeiren@vub.be) • Maïa De Ridder (maia.de.ridder@vub.be) • Department of Water and Climate (VUB) [https://hydr.vub.be/]
project partners
Søren Stecher-Rasmussen (We Are Nature.Brussels vzw) [https://wearenature.brussels/] • Francesc Baró and Amy Phillips (Department of Cartography and GIS, VUB) [https://cgis.research.vub.be/] • Niels Souverijns and Filip Lefebre (VITO) [https://vito.be/nl/product/urbclim-stedelijke-klimaatmodellering]