Major consultation on urban life in Belval: successes and potential improvements

8 Min Read

A mission: to reflect on the development of Belval as perceived by users and experts 20 years after ground was first broken. A method: a major consultation carried out by AGORA and the Zeyen+Baumann design firm with all stakeholders. The result: a clear overview of public opinion and areas for improvement, particularly in terms of mobility. Everything is explained here as in a meticulous investigation report with contributions from Lex Faber, Urban Planner at Zeyen+Baumann, and Alexandre Londot, Operations Director at AGORA.

For the truest possible sense of what Belval users think, a large sample was needed. “Public opinion about Belval is documented in certain newspaper articles, but this remains very incomplete and insufficient,” says Lex Faber. “By varying the people contacted and the types of interviews, we obtained more varied and comprehensive feedback.” The stakeholders consulted during this major exercise included elected officials, AGORA partners, town planners, architects, engineers, developers, neighbourhood workers, residents, entrepreneurs working on the site, and visitors passing through. In short, everyone was involved!

The art of proceeding methodically

But what process should be put in place to effectively learn from so many different people? First, the analysis of three “experts” who have surveyed the field was collected, then large thematic workshops were held to go deeper. Initially, the journalist Anne Elisabeth Bertucci was responsible for collecting and summarising the opinions of the general public briefly interviewed on the street, then the urban planner-architect Isabelle Van Driessche was tasked with gathering data and formulating an informed opinion on questions of urban space. Finally, Jeannot Schroeder, a recognised expert in ecology and the circular economy, was invited to analyse Belval’s practices in terms of sustainability and eco-responsibility. All this served as material for the thematic workshops that followed, focusing on improvements to be made to the site, and eventually for an action plan based on six major themes: urban planning, public space, mobility, resources, governance and internal processes at AGORA.

Lex Faber

Lex Faber explains:

The idea was not to carry out a scientific evaluation, but to see how Belval is perceived. In this sense, the journalist and the urban planner did not really consult the original masterplans or the official documents detailing the urban concepts for Belval. They tried hard to experience and examine the neighbourhood as it is today, and as it is perceived and experienced in the here and now by its users. Jeannot Schroeder tried to collect quantitative data, for example on water and electricity use, but this proved to be limited and he also combined his statistical and theoretical approach with more concrete, experiential methods in the field.

Lex Faber, Architect-Developer at the Zeyen+Baumann design firm


One of the various methods used by Zeyen+Baumann was a short study comparing Belval to similar neighbourhoods, focusing on Hafencity near the Port of Hamburg and L’Union, an eco-district between Lille, Tourcoing, Roubaix and Wattrelos.

Some successes to replicate

The public said: Belval is particularly seen as a success with regard to the general architectural quality of the buildings, the dynamism of its rather young population, the harmonious integration of the industrial heritage and the exemplary nature of the Wassertrappe, the staircase of water which makes the landscape beautiful while retaining rainwater. Another positive was the calming character of the large Um Belval park, even if citizens think that there is not enough greenery in the neighbourhood!

Alexandre Londot

Alexandre Londot particularly emphasises this last point:

We believe for the future of Belval and for the development of the upcoming Metzeschmelz district that green spaces are of capital importance. You need them everywhere. Our neighbourhoods of course benefit from having large parks like Um Belval, which are the “lungs” of the zone, but also from integrating greenery on each section of street, in each small free space. We need collective vegetable patches in shared gardens around buildings, plants on sections of public squares, green roofs wherever possible, and greenery integrated into the architecture of buildings and on facades.

Alexandre Londot, Operations Director at AGORA

Perceptions to consider

Page 16 of the summary produced by Zeyen+Baumann: “Users prefer to go by car rather than public transport or bike because the neighbourhood is not well served by public transport.”
Page 18: “As far as co-existing and togetherness are concerned, users above all consider Belval a place of work.”
Page 19: “The neighbourhood lacks functional diversity.”
Page 21: “The neighbourhood still requires a lot of external energy.”

Twenty years after it was initially designed, Belval is of course perceived as trapped in certain old ways of doing things. The car, for example, was favoured in this area from the very beginning, when the site was still an industrial wasteland poorly connected to the rest of the country by public transport. This is increasingly a thing of the past. Still, improvements are indeed necessary. Good news regarding mobility: the new mobility plan, based around the new tramway and a teeming cycle network, will completely change the situation by 2035.

Additional communications are undoubtedly needed to promote this mobility plan, which is still little known. For the rest, by becoming aware of perceptions, we decided in particular to set up a “pop-up” cycle path connecting the Vëlodukt to the path parallel to the Waassertrap to facilitate bike use while different parts of the neighbourhood are still under construction with limited access to the main cycle paths. Gradually, new developments will also be introduced everywhere that will facilitate active mobility by bike or on foot, as well as use of public transport.

Alexandre Londot, Operations Director at AGORA

Belval is also an area associated with cars because of the numerous temporary car parks which existed for a time during construction, but which then disappeared but remained in people’s memories. Transitional developments can affect the perception of a neighbourhood at a certain moment, and this is a lesson to be learned for the development of Metzeschmelz. The phasing of work must be more progressive and better distributed across the area. In Belval, for example, the central part is being developed last, which has its advantages, but which also encourages the perception of an urban area full of construction sites and car parks, which makes it unfavourable to different types of mobility.

Lex Faber, Architect-Developer at the Zeyen+Baumann design firm


Mission accomplished? Absolutely! The exercise carried out by AGORA and Zeyen+Baumann not only allows us to think back on Belval’s development, but also to reflect on that of similar districts such as the future Metzeschmelz area. It also encourages us to consider urban future from a more inclusive, more sustainable angle focused on inhabitants’ quality of life.

Share This Article