Mixed uses, stacking strategies, hybridisation in business areas, business parks and industrial zones – what are we talking about? What are the issues behind this question of mixing and density? What visions and strategies are currently being developed? Guillaume Vanneste spoke with three stakeholders for A: Brussels Bouwmeester Master Architect Kristiaan Borret (BMA), architect and urban planner Xaveer De Geyter, and Filip Vanha-verbeke, Steven Vanassche and Griet Lannoo from the Leiedal intermunicipal association in Kortrijk.

Kristiaan Borret – The question needs to be clarified according to the context in which we find ourselves. In Brussels, the BMA team has developed a vision that has been applied in several productive city projects. The idea is to bring production back to inhabited areas, with housing, particularly in areas that allow for this, such as ZEMUs (urban business zones). In Flanders and Wallonia, in business and industrial parks, the situation is slightly different. The question of diversity in these areas requires clarification of the programme used to hybridise these business zones. Recreational programmes are particularly complementary to production spaces and timescales. On the other hand, while the issue of housing is well addressed in Brussels in dense projects, it is less realistic or less easy to develop outside the ‘dense city’.