The Mediapark on Boulevard Reyers in Brussels is one of the spearheads of the Brussels-Capital Region’s urban development plan. The Flemish and French-language radio and television broadcasters still share a huge building on the site, which was once a shooting range, although it now falls short of contemporary needs and requirements. A master plan by the Paris-based agency François Leclercq proposes a new Mediapark for the terrain. This can be interpreted literally: a whole host of media companies will share a park with a range of support companies, shops and hotels as well as an impressive number of homes.

The Mediapark is the result of a revolution that unleashed digitization into the media landscape. In the past, media companies, especially public-service broadcasters, were high in the pecking order because they controlled the distribution channel. This is no longer the case and, in media parlance, everything now revolves around ‘content’ production. Programmes reach consumers via multiple channels. Media companies work closely with the ‘content’ suppliers, therefore, which can range from small enterprises to large production studios. They also outsource a wide variety of this type of work. For Leclercq, the media world has become an ecosystem in its own right.