16 Jan 2018

BRUSSELS CENTER - PEDESTRIAN ZONE

After our visit of the Pompeii exhibition we walked along the new pedestrian zone which is expanded from 28 to 50 hectares and now includes a large part of the Boulevard Anspach, the Place de Brouckère, the Place de la Bourse and the Place Fontainas. The project includes the construction of more than 3000 m² of green space, a system that allows rainwater to be absorbed so that a large part of the water that is used for the green spaces in the pedestrian zone comes from a sustainable and environmentally-friendly source, seats with graffiti-resistant paint, more drinking water fountains, more intelligent trash cans, more energy saving thanks to public lighting with LED lamps and 1,000 parking spaces for bicycles ! (not for me) I hope there will be a bit more for disabled people, because it was rather difficult to find a parking place for Chantal who has to walk with crutches.

With all these projects underway the government hopes to improve public health by reducing air pollution, noise and stress as a result of the excessive traffic that is often unnecessary. To bring a more pleasant atmosphere into the city by investing in cultural activities and events. To decorate the city through the redevelopment of public space by rebuilding real squares, by renovating the facades of remarkable buildings and harmonizing the various shop fronts. Meanwhile real nice and funny graffiti hide the renovations.



There was a band playing and a lot of people listening









A long part of the Boulevard Anspach is now free from cars. You can walk in the middle of the street, but we didn't because we also looked at the shops.











And everywhere where they worked were panels with real nice Graffiti, some modern some out of comic books.  There are much more of course, but it was getting dark and we returned home.





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9 comments:

  1. Lovely buildings and murals!

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  2. Great street photography. I like that.

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  3. Car free streets are wonderful, and people should get to them by public transport, not by cars.

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  4. So much better without cars.

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  5. I love pedestrian streets! We don't have very many here.

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  6. Interesting city scenes! I like the comic book art around the construction sites. I had never heard of 'intelligent trash cans' so I googled it - amazing!
    Our weather reports (Mississippi, USA) are saying snow, but snow does not go 'ping' when it hits the windows. That is ice out there - tiny pellets of ice!
    Have a wonderful week!

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  7. It's strange to say this but the graffiti looks very nice. As long as it's not on buildings, it's fine. I hate graffiti on historic buildings though.

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  8. Very nice visit to the big City~ you live in an ideal place, where it isn't a huge city but you can fairly easily travel to one.

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