We have the great pleasure to invite you to "Brussels ecosystems" a two-day conference that will be held on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th October 2018 at KVS Theater (146, Rue de Laeken 1000 Bruxelles).
What is an urban ecosystem? Which dimensions of urban reality do the various aspects of ecosystems reveal to our look and to our judgement? What tools do they enable in the various fields of study involved? To what extent can these additional ‘lenses’ help us reorient how we think about cities and the societies that lives within them? How to engage in ‘transversal’ action within and upon society and the environment?
The first day will explore the variety of scientific approaches to the interaction between society and environment with the aim to contribute to an interdisciplinary approach of these questions, exploring four aspects of the concept of ecosystem: natural ecosystems, social ecosystems, political ecosystems, and knowledge ecosystems. The second day we will have the occasion to experiment and sketch in four parallel thematic workshops, which are the ecosystems linked to different Brussels' situations studied in the framework of Metrolab project. The result of these two day conference will put the qualitative bases of the MasterClass on Brussels Ecosystems that will take place in January 2019.
We hope you will join the discussion and nurture the debate with us.
PROGRAMME
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Thursday 18th of October 2018
8h30 – 9h00 Registration
9h00 – 9h30 Opening - Bernard Declève (Professor, Architect Engineer & Urbanist, UCLouvain, Metrolab)
Brussels Ecosystems s’ancre dans une volonté partagée de mobiliser les différents registres de l’écologie comme ressources pour penser l’interdépendance des composantes urbaines, en intégrant l’idée que le monde est un réservoir de ressources fini et que l’humain fait partie intégrante de la nature. Brussels Ecosystems veut également contribuer à informer une réflexion prospective en vue de la transition des écosystèmes de Bruxelles vers un nouveau régime écologique et territorial.
Political Ecosystems (EN)
In this first session on political ecosystem we wish to adress political ecology, examining issues that might be raised by a governance that takes non-humans into account. From the 1970s, the eco-marxist discourse of authors such as Henri Lefevbre, André Gorz, and Ivan Illitch have recognized that nature is itself a social and cultural construct. In turn, it has inspired Peter Blaikie and David Harvey’s classical concept of ‘political ecology’, as well as Erik Swyngedouw and Matthew Gandy’s ‘urban political ecology’. This session will explore how urban political ecology can help us to radically reconceptualize urban nature and the politics of metabolism in relation to contemporary urban policy and urban project.
9h30 – 10h00 « Metabolisms of green and grey: The politics of urban nature in and beyond the city » Professor David Wachsmuth (Urban political economist, Canada Research Chair in Urban Governance and Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, McGill University)
10h00 – 10h30 « From other-than-human to forensic ecologies » Professor Matthew Gandy (Geographer, University of Cambridge)
10h30 – 11h00 Q&A session
11h00 – 11h15 Coffee break (Espace Bar)
Natural Ecosystems (FR)
Cette session met l'accent sur un des champs de l'écologie environnementale, progressivement devenu ces dernières décennies une des clés pour penser nos territoires : l'écologie du paysage. Science des formes environnementales, elle étudie le lien entre les configurations du paysage et les fonctionnements écologiques d'un territoire, allant de la nature sauvage aux villes à différentes échelles. Les orateurs aborderont les apports prospectifs de cette inter-discipline pour les études urbaines en visitant les concepts d'hétérogénéité, d'interface biodiversité-humains, et les enjeux d'intégration des logiques de perception par les acteurs dans une perspective d'action.
11h15 – 11h45 « Ecological processes occur in landscapes » Professor Jacques Baudry (Ecologist, INRA Rennes)
11h45 – 12h15 « Ecosystèmes urbains. Par et Pour_La Biodiversité» Professor Grégory Mahy (Biologist, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Liège)
12h15 – 12h45 Q&A session
12h45 – 14h00 Lunch (Espace Foyer)
Social Ecosystems (FR)
Cette session est consacrée à la question de l’écosystème dans une perspective sociologique. Si elle partage, avec les différentes approches écologiques, l’attention aux relations entre les êtres et leur environnement et à leur configuration réciproque, elle s’intéresse plus spécifiquement aux interactions qui fondent les milieux de vie sociale et aux explorations auxquelles ils donnent prise. Les deux orateurs aborderont la notion d’écosystème dans une veine pragmatique, soucieuse des pratiques, des moments et des lieux où se joue l’expérience démocratique.
14h00 – 14h30 « Les piliers du développement durable en régime de criticité. Saisir les trajectoires des systèmes à partir des milieux en interaction » Professor Francis Chateauraynaud (Sociologist, EHESS Paris)
14h30 – 15h00 « De la place qui sépare à la place qui rassemble » Professor Joëlle Zask (Philosopher, Université Aix-Marseille)
15h00 – 15h45 Q&A session
15h45 – 16h00 Coffee break
16h00 – 17h 30 Step to an ecology of territorial knowledge? (EN/FR)
This session will open a fourth perspective based on the conception of ecology developed by the biologist, anthropologist and psychoanalyst Gregory Bateson in his seminal book Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Ecology appears there as an epistemological attitude and an active principle that determines individual and collective subjectivities and production of meaning at each level of social organization. After a short introduction by Bernard Declève, we will invite to gather around a final round table the key-speakers of the day and three members of the Metrolab’s scientific comitee - Elena Cogato-Lanza, Brian Mc Grath,Serge Kempeneers – to explore this perspective.
Bernard Declève (Professor, Architect Engineer & Urbanist, UCLouvain, Metrolab)
Professor Elena Cogato Lanza (Architect & Urban planner, EPFL Lausanne)
Professor Brian McGrath (Urban designer, Parsons School of Design, NYC)
Serge Kempeneers (Biologist, Director « Division Espaces Verts, Bruxelles Environnement »)
17h30 – 18h30 Drink & Book launch « Designing urban inclusion »
Mathieu Berger (Professor, Sociologist, UCLouvain, General coordinator of Metrolab)
Friday 19th of October 2018
9h15 – 12h00 : Study visit Brussels canal by boat
Benoit Moritz, (Professor, Architect & Urbanist, ULB, Metrolab)
12h00 welcome at KVS (146, Rue de Laeken 1000 Brussels)
12h30 – 13h30 Lunch
13h30 – 14h00 Introduction
Geoffrey Grulois (Professor, Architect, ULB, Metrolab)
13h30 – 16h00 Workshops
Atelier #1 Agriculture et Ville (FR)
Atelier #2 Travail et Territoire (FR)
Atelier #3 Density and Open spaces (EN)
Atelier #4 Circularité et Ressources (FR)
16h00 – 16h30 Coffee break
16h30 – 17h50 Synthesis and discussion
Francis Chateauraynaud (Sociologist, EHESS Paris), Chloé Deligne (Historian, Université Libre de Bruxelles), Serge Kempeneers (Biologist, Bruxelles Environnement), Brian McGrath (Urban designer, Parsons School of Design, NYC)
17h50 - 18h00 Conclusions
Mathieu Berger (Professor, Sociologist, UCLouvain, General coordinator of Metrolab)
18h00 End of the work
