Improving citizens’ relationship with their environment to promote social inclusion, or the A Place To Be-Come’s boldest ambition

Seraing has played different roles in its region over time. Vibrant industrial site in the past, growing in population and economic resources. Today, with its 64 thousands inhabitants, having gone through multiple crisis, it faces big challenges linked to high levels of unemployment, vast abandoned brownfield and the poor state of its housing stock and its public spaces.

Since the arrival of industrial revolution, with the establishment of the first iron foundry by John Cockerill in 1817, the city of Seraing has developed its factories and workers’ dwellings along the Meuse river, while the residential areas expanded mostly in the hills. This urban development has marked the urban fabric of the lower part of the city, where steel and coal plants coexisted with residential neighbourhoods.

When the steel industry was thriving in the Liège area, during the 50s of the past century, Seraing was booming and welcoming large numbers of immigrants from Italy, Spain, Poland, Maroc, to meet the need for workforce…but since the beginning of its industrial boom, the economic and social dynamics of the city have been inextricably linked to the fate of steel and coal, so that with the decline of the steel industry since the mid-1970s the city of Seraing had to face a slow but relentless downturn. Those neighbourhoods, caught between the railway line and the river, once home to ironworkers, soon became refuge for a more disadvantaged population and faced an incremental economic and social decay, along with critical job loss.

Today the central neighbourhood is the most deprived of the city of Seraing, which in turn is among the most deprived urban areas in the province of Liège.

Some data can help picture the actual situation:

• The average income in Seraing in 2018 is lower than the average in Belgium and also in the Walloon Region: about 14.200€ average income per inhabitant in Seraing; about 17.600€ in Wallonia and 18.700€ in Belgium)[1] and it is the lowest in the arrondissement of Liège;
• The average income has grown less in Seraing than in the Liège province and in Belgium between 2012 and 2018 (8% in Seraing, about 12% in Liège province and about 13% in Belgium);
• The unemployment rate in 2018 for the population 15-64 years old is higher than the average in the region (21,2% in Seraing; 13,1% in Walloon region);[2]
• The share of recipients of financial assistance in relation to social security (RIS)[3] in 2019 is among the greatest in the country: 7,12% inhabitants recipients in Seraing; 3,35% in Wallonia and 1,82% in Belgium;[4]
• The number of recipients of integration income (RIS) in Seraing has grown of 41,9% since 2014 to the end of 2020;[5]
• In Seraing one-person households represent almost the half of all households (41,6%) and 15,7% is a single parent household.[6]

In the central neighbourhood targeted by the UIA project, in particular, the situation is more critical than the rest of the city. In 2019, for example, in the area which represents 10% of the population of Seraing, the recipients of unemployment benefits amounted to 25% of all the recipients of the municipality.[7]

According to the analysis of the partner PsyNCog of the University of Liège, the target area is also reported as being affected by anti-social behaviours and petty crimes, such as scuffles, vandalism, drug-related issues…and problems with waste disposal and littering in public space.[8]

Despite the overall difficult situation, the city of Seraing and its central neighbourhood have some assets which the UIA project aims to take a chance on. First, the city has engaged in a bold urban development programme since 2005 in view of boosting the redynamisation of local resources, both socio-economical and urban. Second, Seraing and especially its central area, is well connected to the nearby city of Liège and strategically located in the Walloon region thank to good local transport networks. Moreover, its huge industrial heritage has the potential to be developed and transformed for economic, cultural and residential purposes. And finally, the neighbourhood hosts plenty of grassroots associations and a rich associative network that can be involved and activated in local projects.

[1] Source: https://bestat.statbel.fgov.be/bestat/crosstable.xhtml?datasource=b394aa82-5045-4483-9e79-cd5344651791

[2] Source: https://walstat.iweps.be/walstat-fiche-entite.php?entite_id=62096

[3] Integration income, in French “Revenu d’Intégration Sociale”.

[4] https://walstat.iweps.be/

[5] CPAS data.

[6] https://walstat.iweps.be/

[7] Data provided by CPAS, social benefits provider in Seraing and partner of the project.

[8] Rapport diagnostic année 2020, B. Dardenne, T. Noël, Service de Psycologie Sociale (Université de Liège).

The steel crisis left the city with about 200 hectares of brownfields and huge unemployment rates. In the last fifteen years, as a reaction to steel crisis, Seraing has embarked in a bold urban development programme called Master Plan with the aim to promote a consistent global strategy capable of meeting the challenges of a post-industrial city, boosting economic development and improving the quality of life for its residents and city users. The programme is meant to accommodate every urban action into a coherent whole and is organised in three main axes: urban development, mobility and green areas.[1]

The regeneration of the central neighbourhood is pivotal in this strategy. Key actions of the regeneration process, which is ongoing, include the urban revitalisation of the main street through the transformation of abandoned industrial heritage sites into commercial buildings, the construction of new offices and the overall renovation of public spaces. Along with this action, a public initiative of housing renewal[2] targets the central neighbourhood to make it more attractive through the purchase and refurbishment of abandoned and dilapidated housing units that are then returned to rental market at moderate prices.

As part of the Master Plan, the city has proposed a plan to bring greenery closer to each Seresian citizen called Master Park. In 2019 Seraing counted about 64 thousands inhabitants living in one third of its territory, the remainder being divided in productive areas and woodland. Despite the extension of woodland in the administrative area, the share of artificial lands is much higher than the regional average (42,1% in Seraing, 10,7% in the Walloon region) and it is unevenly distributed in the urban area leaving the central neighbourhood mainly artificial.[3] Moreover, urban green areas are limited in number and surface and often poorly maintained, while large brownfields and uncared-for or abandoned plots can offer some opportunities for upgrading. For these reasons, the city of Seraing has launched an initiative to create a green network of parks at 10-minutes walking distance for everyone. Through this, some green areas will be improved while some new ones will be created. In this policy context both APTBC and the Interreg project N-Power aim to meet the challenge and contribute with their own strategies, as it will be discussed further.

An important plan to regenerate an abandoned brownfield in proximity of the city centre is also under consideration. This is a plan that aims to build a new neighbourhood where once a blast furnace called HF6 occupied a 27 hectares site in close proximity to a dense urban environment. The main objectives are to facilitate the reconnection with the surrounding neighbourhoods while at the same time to assure a new offer of housing, services, businesses and amenities.

Master Plan’s actions and HF6 development plan in particular present some challenges to the UIA project which should be taken into account for the potential impacts on the central neighbourhood in the medium-long term.

Both the regeneration of the central neighbourhood (including the renovation of the industrial heritage, private housing and public spaces) and the construction of a mixed neighbourhood nearby, participate to a strategy of attracting new inhabitants from the middle-class through a new offer of housing, jobs and amenities. While this might be an opportunity of social and economic redynamisation for the city as a whole, it can bring some risks of gentrification with it if a focus on the most precarious and vulnerable parts of the population is not maintained all along the process. It would mean, for example, to take advantage of the UIA project to observe ongoing processes at the urban level and provide the city with recommendations for future developments and trends. For the UIA project it would imply to pay close attention to whom its beneficiaries are and what inclusion means in practice in conditions of precariousness and poverty.

[1] City of Seraing website https://www.seraing.be/le-master-plan/

[2] https://www.seraing.be/le-master-plan/le-projet-primo-renovation-de-lhabitat/

[3] https://walstat.iweps.be/walstat-catalogue.php?niveau_agre=A&indicateur_id=215700&ordre=0&periode=01/01/2020&niveau_agre=C&sel_niveau_catalogue=T

A Place to Be-Come project adopts a multidimensional perspective combining area-based and people-based approach to urban poverty, as recommended by the EU Agenda,[1] in an effort to improve living conditions in the centre of Seraing. The project is based on a strategy aiming to foster social bonds both at the neighbourhood level and with/across the administration of the city as a trigger for participation and citizens’ empowerment. The idea is that every citizen might be able to take advantage of urban development and for this to happen improvements at urban level must go hand in hand with improvements at social and economic levels.[2]

Consequently, the project is conceived as a process that tackles urban poverty from three angles: urban, economic and social. Within this framework, the main actions aim to contribute to build better relationships between citizens and their urban environment, create new jobs and promote social cohesion and citizens’ participation.[3] In particular, these actions include:

• Nature based education and training for a target group: trainees will get a qualification in the field of green areas maintenance and all along their contract they will be contributing to improve three local parks’ layout. At the end of their contracts they will get the job seeker status, which they could not access before their enrolment in the project;
• Encouraging the use and attachment to public spaces (in particular public parks in the area) through the development of soft skills.[4] In other words, through the adoption of tailored and specific nudges or the identification of the most appropriate solutions which can promote desired behaviour towards green areas;
• The development of a participatory planning process able to promote civic engagement and the creation of new spaces of relation and togetherness, in particular two community hubs that will be strategically located in the area. Moreover, the ambition is to help citizens become more familiar with urban planning and improve their capacity to express their views on the becoming of their city;
• The design and construction of a new day centre to welcome people experiencing homelessness and problems associated with poverty and marginalisation: the current localisation and layout of the day centre do not respond to users’ needs and local residents’ expectations, so a new location has been identified strategically in close proximity with the future HF6 urban development.

Five keywords have been identified to illustrate[1] how the project want to make the central area more inclusive: 1) Reclaiming one own neighbourhood, that is encouraging residents to see their neighbourhood with new eyes, especially its public spaces, and change the way they relate with them into a rewarding and healthy relationship; 2) Planning with citizens, in a city where participation is still underdeveloped and where precarious life conditions fix different priorities, the project wishes to generate new collective dynamics; 3) Making the city greener, through the improvement of existing parks, promoting positive behaviour toward them and sowing the seeds of a new awareness about the importance of taking care of green areas; 4) Creating new spaces of hospitality, that is public spaces where every citizen can feel welcomed and can enhance her own capacity to engage in the construction of the public good; 5) Facilitating access to services for everyone, by creating a network of public spaces (green areas, community hubs, public services such as the day centre…) more accessible and friendly.

[1] As presented in the first newsletter of the project issued in November 2020.

[1] Urban Agenda for the EU, Partnership Urban Poverty (2017)

[2] Application Form UIA A Place to Be-Come

[3] Hernandez, A., Gat, M., Bigot, M. & Geffroy, D. (2020) La qualité de vie environnementale de Seraing perçue par les acteurs de la ville : une étude qualitative de trois espaces verts de Seraing Centre. Psykolab. Lyon, France.

[4] “Compétences psychosociales, in French (see Hernandez, op. cit.). In this framework the concept is referred to as people’s positive attitudes towards their environment.

Urban poverty is a priority area for the EU Agenda and APTBC in particular can be associated with the specific priority that refers to the “Regeneration of Urban Deprived Areas and Neighbourhoods”, for it conceptualises urban poverty as both a spatial phenomenon manifesting in the central neighbourhood of Seraing and a social phenomenon linked to people living in the city and experiencing precarious and disadvantaged conditions. The action plan (AP) of the EU Agenda for this specific priority recommends to adopt a multi-level approach, a mixed place-based and people based vision and to address the multiple dimensions of urban poverty through integrated strategies.[1]

Four dimensions are to be taken into account to tackle urban poverty, according to the AP:

• Urban regeneration, which refers to improving the attractiveness of targeted neighbourhoods through interventions on public spaces, facilities, services and economic development;
• Social cohesion, which is about interventions that focus on vulnerable people and individuals (such as marginal groups, unemployed individuals, single parent households…) to tackle health, education, employment and integration issues;
• Inclusive economic development, which aims to boost economic internal dynamics and integrate them into local economic processes;
• Environment/energy, which refers to climate change challenges, urban resilience practices and energy efficiency.

Each one of these four dimensions has a place within APTBC project, with regard to both the approach and the operational strategy. The environmental dimension is addressed not specifically in respect with energy efficiency, but with a strong focus on enhancing citizens’ access to green spaces with a view to a greener city and healthier life conditions for all.

The EU Agenda highlights a multiplicity of cross-cutting issues that need to be included in the overall strategy against urban poverty. Among them, many are addressed by the APTBC project and are relevant for the overall initiative to be effective: 1) an integrated diagnosis of urban deprived areas which is based on a comprehensive understanding of the urban, social, environmental and economic characteristics of targeted neighbourhoods and citizens’ real needs; 2) a participatory process which fosters the inclusiveness of all the inhabitants and the most vulnerable in particular with a focus on empowerment; 3) a focus on the accessibility and quality of public services to meet inhabitants’ needs.

[1] Urban Agenda for the EU, Urban Poverty Partnership, Final Action Plan (2018) https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/system/files/ged/action_plan_urban_poverty.pdf

After the economic crisis, at the end of the 2000s all European countries have faced an increase in inequalities. In this context, Belgium developed a plan to fight poverty, at the federal and regional level. The Walloon Region proposed its first plan against poverty in 2015, understanding poverty from the standpoint of the access to the resources needed to lead a decent life.[1]

More recently, the fight against urban poverty and for a better inclusion of vulnerable citizens goes through the enhancement of the accessibility to human rights. Processes that provide every citizen with equal opportunities and access to the same rights are covered by the notion of social cohesion, which is considered as a means towards a distributed condition of wellbeing.[2] In this sense, in Belgium “specific urban poverty policies do not exist”.[3] However, if we look at Belgian poverty-related policies and we distinguish between a preponderant area-based strategy and a people-based approach, we can identify two main groups of policies.

The social cohesion strategy, which is inspired by the adoption of this concept by the EU Commission and the Council of Europe at the beginning of 2000s, insists on the idea of building a better society where everyone has the same opportunities to flourish. This is not intended in contrast with the fight against poverty, rather as adding a new dimension which is more holistic and comprehensive and meant for every citizen in need.[4] What is changing is the relative angle from which poverty is analysed: not from an absolute point of view but in relation with the condition of the society as a whole. In this framework, it is not only the individual condition which counts but the place of the individual within his or her community, with an emphasis on solidarity and community building. In the Walloon Region, each municipality elaborates its own Social Cohesion plan following the regional programme established every five years. Seraing has adopted its own Social Cohesion plan for the period 2020-2025 and its vision is to build a more inclusive urban community by forging ties among citizens: a challenge that the APTBC project has taken up.

On the other hand, a more integrated approach for urban areas is conceived to make cities more attractive by addressing a multiplicity of issues ranging from the quality of life, public spaces, green areas, economic development, housing and smart city.[5] Seraing has joint the platform of Walloon Cities which brings together those cities that has adopted (or are going to) a “Perspective de Développement Urbain” (PDU), a measure of strategic governance that designates two main goals which are, first, the strengthening of attractiveness and, second, the enhancement of social cohesion.[6] These objectives should be achieved through a strategic modus operandi including for example the engagement of all the stakeholders into the definition of urban projects, working through transdisciplinarity, promoting collective learning and capitalisation of knowledge.

[1] http://luttepauvrete.wallonie.be/

[2] http://cohesionsociale.wallonie.be/content/definitions-cohesion-sociale

[3] P.J. De Graeve, F. Fournier, D.P. Decoster, I. Pannecoucke, W. Lahaye, R. Van Rossem, Recherche Pauvreté Urbaine (2017)

[4] Direction de la Cohésion Sociale (DiCS) et Institut Wallon de la’Evaluation, de la Prospective et de la Statistique (IWEPS), Rapport sur la Cohésion Sociale en Wallonie (2019)

[5] http://lampspw.wallonie.be/dgo4/site_amenagement/site/politiquedelaville

[6] https://www.plateforme-villes-wallonie.be/

In 2014 the city of Seraing decided to elaborate a Social Masterplan (Master plan social) as a complement to the urban masterplan that was adopted almost ten years earlier, based on the acknowledgement of a complex social context and the need to implement a holistic vision. Seraing’s Social master plan is designed around the concept of “life trajectories”, which include each aspect of someone’s life into a whole thus to produce comprehensive policy strategies, able to hold together all the trajectories. In practice, this means that a special effort is to be put on the integration of every institutional action so that the economic, the social, the urban, the educational, the environmental can be connected and reinforce each other toward the same goal. The APTBC project adopts this perspective, nevertheless it cannot count on concrete initiatives since the Social master plan has remained mainly on paper and is still lacking an operational dimension.

Many synergies can be built with the cited Interreg project “N-Power”, which shares with APTBC the overall goal, some locations of implementation (one park in the central neighbourhood) and some partners (Arebs, Lema). N-Power, like APTBC, focus on empowerment as leverage for improving quality of life in Seraing and increasing social integration of vulnerable groups.

APTBC officially started on September 2019 and it is expected to end by August 2022. 2020 has not been an easy year for urban projects, not to mention those projects for which the engagement of citizens is a key strategy and co-production is an implementation methodology.

If we consider the first year of the project globally, many activities have been delayed due to the pandemic that has severely hit Europe since the end of February 2020, and Belgium from mid-March. In particular, as we will see more in detail in the next section, project’s actions requiring people’s involvement have been affected the most and have suffered from changed priorities within the local administration. Nonetheless, many activities have been accomplished in time or with limited delay, thanks to adaptation and search for new solutions.

During the first months, all the tools meant for coordinating the project, sharing information and encouraging collaboration between partners were organised and internal communication was set up, with some difficulties linked to a different level of engagement from partners. The kick-off event that would launch the project was held in November 2019 with partners and some officials from the municipality. Digital platforms were set up in order to allow each partner to communicate quickly with the others, to share progresses, proposals, obstacles, ideas, and guarantee that everybody could follow the status of the project. The good functioning of these platforms, which are used by all the partners - with the exception of local officials who are less comfortable with them - has proved very useful when the pandemic forced partners to work remotely and face-to-face meetings were cancelled.

While internal communication was arranged to be as smooth as possible, external communication proceeded more slowly. The event that would have publicly presented the project to the city was cancelled twice, the first time in April and the second time in October 2020, as a result of Covid-19 related restrictions.

The diagnosis of the relationship between the inhabitants and local green areas from a psychosocial perspective began during the autumn 2019 when the questionnaire was tested by the partner PsyN&Cog on the field to be then adjusted for its later dissemination. This first test allowed PsyN&Cog to administer a final questionnaire on the field through door-to-door activities, at grassroots associations’ local sections and during the weekly local market, between February and mid-March 2020, when the pandemic broke out and they had to interrupt their activity in person and go online. In the meantime, the other two partners in charge of contributing to the overall diagnosis of the area, Lema and Psykolab, started collecting their data regarding the characters of urban development in Seraing for Lema and qualitative data on the relationship between inhabitants and their local environment for Psykolab. In particular, Psykolab conducted several interviews with local stakeholders, grassroots associations and inhabitants. When the pandemic prevented them from going to the field (Psykolab being based in Lyon, France), they worked with a local partner, the CPAS, which carried out observation in situ and collected first-hand data in green areas.

Starting from September 2020, Lema could implement the qualitative and participative part of the diagnosis by conducting four exploratory walks with a variety of participants, with the support of local associations. During these walks it was possible to gain a better knowledge of residents’ needs and feelings about their environment. All collected data, treated with both qualitative and quantitative methods, were then analysed by each partner and finally brought together into a common framework in order to provide the rest of the project team, and the municipality, with coherent recommendations and proposals for appropriate solutions to improve the parks and make them more attractive to local residents. This activity was also made possible thanks to the social mapping that CPAS was carrying out, with the support of the Prevention Department and Arebs, to identify grassroots associations, assess their needs and their willingness for taking part to the project.

Nature-based trainings were launched in February 2020, first through the selection and then the training of 10 residents on green areas management. About 400 CPAS beneficiaries residing in the project area (people who receive social aid from CPAS but are not entitled for unemployment benefits) were convened, about 200 showed up and 70 people took part to a visit to the three local parks. Of these, 15 were selected after an individual interview and enrolled in a 2 weeks traineeship on the field. At the end of the traineeship period, 10 people were hired and when their contract expires (the traineeship will continue during 2021) they will be able to apply for job with a new qualification while being again entitled to unemployment benefit. Their work, which consists in learning by doing with the support of the partner Natagora, is double-headed: on the one side it improves the aesthetics of the three parks by designing their layout and then implementing it; on the other side, it involves them directly in the project through their participation to other activities. For example, although participatory actions were suspended, they occupied and refurbished a space that is meant to be a temporary community hub (called La Ruche à Projets), while waiting for the two buildings to be completed.

Traineeships for municipal officials were also planned but are still in wait and have been rescheduled for spring 2021.

The planning of all the activities requiring citizens’ involvement has been completely disrupted by the pandemic. From Lema’s urban planning seminars, to Natagora’s public workshops and events, to the launch of the temporary community hub (La Ruche à Projets): every action which should boost a participative dynamic in the area is still on hold.

To date, two investments are under development: for the day centre and one the two community hubs the designers have been selected. For the other community hub a new solution is still being examined, because the building that was identified as the most appropriate location ended being unavailable for cost reasons.

How this can impact on the project will be further discussed in the next chapters.

APTBC is an ambitious project for at least two reasons: first, its scope is large - to fight exclusion and marginalisation through a multidimensional approach in the central deprived neighbourhood of a city struggling with social and economic troubles; second, it engages with structural difficulties that might hinder its achievements, such as Seresians’ so far reduced participation in civic life and urban authority’s budgetary constraints. In this sense, the project’s biggest challenges emerge as consequences of these hindrances. Nonetheless, during the first year it was possible on the one side to activate many of the planned activities; on the other side, for the partners to learn how to adjust their working methods, experiment new ways of co-producing and connect with the field.

The nature-based trainings with a group of residents have started and are giving the first results, despite some delays. The urban and psychosocial diagnosis of the area have been realised and provided tailored recommendations on future action. Some activities involving grassroots associations and inhabitants were carried out, but the participatory initiative is still on hold due to the COVID-19 context with which the project had to deal.

In the next months APTBC will pursue trainings and it is expected to take every step in order to launch the participatory dynamic which is needed to pave the way for the transformation of Seraing’s public spaces: successful community hubs, attractive and lively green areas, welcoming and accessible social services.