Michael Ryckewaert

Beyond housing: on the role of commoning in the establishment of a Community Land Trust project

Urban commons scholars increasingly present Community Land Trusts (CLTs) as a model to manage ‘housing commons’. The collective property framework and institutional design of CLTs offer an innovative yet strenuous approach to facilitate collective access to affordable housing and urban land for underprivileged groups. Although these scholars emphasise the indispensable role of collective action, i.e. ‘commoning’ in the establishment of urban CLTs and their projects, relatively little attention is paid to its implications and consequences for the groups involved. This paper studies the genesis of the first CLT project on the European mainland through the lens of ‘commoning’. It sheds light both on the role of collective action in the institutional design of Community Land Trust Brussels and on the participatory nature of the development of its first project. This reveals not only the empowering potential of commoning practices, but also the challenges related to scaling up such practices.

Towards a sustainable transformation of the detached houses in peri-urban Flanders, Belgium

The housing stock in Flanders contains a significant share of detached dwellings. Recent demographical, economic and ecological developments, however, have induced a large demand for other housing types. This paper addresses the resulting issue of whether the adaptation of existing low-density neighbourhoods is possible, and hypothesizes that the presence of a certain NIMBY (not in my back yard) attitude among current residents might complicate any planning efforts that would bring about fundamentally different spatial patterns. The paper offers an analysis of the existing residential patterns, focusing on the presence of underused housing. This analytical part is complemented by qualitative research into the acceptability of different possible scenarios at the neighbourhood level. Three distinct strategies have been elaborated for discussion with homeowners. The paper concludes that a top-down projection of transformative strategies needs to be brought into balance with interests of residents, thus capitalizing on an ‘overarching interest’, bringing into play an alliance of different tendencies.

Reproducing housing commons. Government involvement and differential commoning in a housing cooperative

Abstract Since the late nineteenth century, reoccurring economic depressions and related housing crises have led to the development of collectively shared and managed housing systems. Nowadays depicted as ‘housing commons’, these systems are rooted in the early twentieth-century cooperative garden city housing model. Some of these housing initiatives have been marketed, while others have been scaled-up or co-opted by the state. Through a detailed discussion of changing government involvement in a rental cooperative neighbourhood in the Brussels Capital Region, and an analysis of participative practices, we discuss the relevance of the cooperative model today. Rather than an obsolete system, the paper shows that differential forms of commoning reproduce the cooperative model, resulting in capacity building and increased social capital among participating inhabitants. This sheds a different light on common-pool resource theory, which prescribes strict regulations to prevent free-ridership or enclosure.

Easing spatial inequalities? An analysis of the anticipated effects of Urban Enterprise Zones in Brussels

ABSTRACT This paper offers an ex-ante policy analysis of the Zone of Economic Expansion (ZEE) in inner-city neighbourhoods of the Brussels Canal Area. It identifies the anticipated effects by scrutinizing the impact of a similar and already implemented Urban Enterprise Zone – the Zone Franche Urbaine – in the city centre Roubaix (Lille). The key question is whether the ZEE can be interpreted as a policy measure to effectively reduce spatial inequalities, or rather, as a measure that will stimulate private land rent valorization strategies with (industrial) gentrification effects. The ex-ante analysis suggests that synchronously implemented territorial policies that seek to enhance functional mixing, will undercut the ability to boost local job creation, yet will displace economic activity and reinforce uneven development within the metropolitan area. Observing this conundrum, the paper reviews the potential of policies that centre on foundational and/or ethnic economic activities that are more in tune with already existing local economic activities and labour markets, and may be more fruitful in achieving social mobility of the current residents.