Malempré, a hamlet of Manhay, is a village with 330 inhabitants in the province of Luxembourg. It consists of a traditional compact centre, clustered around the church and along a street running parallel to the main road. The village once thrived on agriculture, but today most residents commute to the city. In the centre, several former farmhouses stand empty. The lack of amenities such as a bakery, supermarket, post office or café, combined with very limited employment opportunities, makes Malempré more of a dormitory village. Furthermore, there are currently 207 plots of land available for development, often situated along the access roads to the village rather than in the centre itself.

The master’s students from the Atelier Ruralité explored ways to breathe new life into this village and offer an alternative to the impending mass ribbon development. They drew up a masterplan for the next ten years, centred on energy transition, local (food) production and reuse.