Hello. In this video, we'll see how transport and mobility can transform a city, essentially spatially, but also socially. This city is Brussels, capital of Europe, as you can see behind me on the image. The video is divided into three chapters: The first two relate on how transport infrastructure and speed infrastructure, that are the railway and highways have disfigured the center of Brussels and reorganized it. The third chapter questions the recent project of a pedestrian center of Brussels on its potential to be or not an engine of transformation of the city, as were before the train and car. In this video, we left the floor to professionals, Brussels academics and activists. Each chapter will involve one or two people. Junction is a long term project. that is to say that this is one of the most emblematic projects of the contemporary history of Brussels. This is a project that lasted for fifty years. The origin is in 1903, when an agreement was signed between the state and the city of Brussels, to link the North Station to the South Station (Gare du Midi) But we can still go further back in time, since the first station in Brussels is in 1835, it is the station of Allée Verte. In fact, this is the first train traveling on the europeen continent, in Belgium. From that moment, we will see the railway develop gradually in Belgium, and, in particular, we will have the need to develop other stations. In 1840, a station was set up to be the first South Station, which is roughly what is now the "Palais du Midi" in Brussels. And we immediately see, when we have these two stations, (the Allée Verte station will be moved in 1841 to form the nucleus of the North Station) so, when you have a North Station and a South Station, soon comes the idea to link these two stations. And so a whole series of projects are emerging and show that in fact, very quickly, we feel the need for a link between the two terminal stations that are the North Station and the South Station, in a context where the railway is developing rapidly, and here was the heart of the network, what quickly became the heart of the network, with two stations that are not linked. That is why, after much debate, we finally decided to build a North-South Junction. The debate takes place in the turning if the nineteenth to twentieth centuries. In 1903, the agreement is signed, and it is actually decided to do it on a hillside, that is to say in the height difference between the upper town and lower town, and therefore crossing Brussels. The problem is that the work takes much longer than expected. And in 1914 the first World War broke out, and the work is far from over. Of course, during the war, it is not a priority, the site is abandoned. And after the war rises the question of the continuation or not of the site, and we can say that the file is gradually buried. And then the crisis of the early 1930s broke and in that context, in 1935, we will launch a number of major public works in Belgium, and one of these activities, will be to build, and to rebuild, to resume the construction of the North-South Junction. And it will be the office for the completion of the North-South Junction which will start its work in mid-1930 with the aim of completing this junction. So it was in 1952 that finally the first two tracks are inaugurated, tracks which will cross the capital, and,especially, is inaugurated the Central Station. What is interesting is that, of course, this causes fundamental changes in the Brussels urban fabric. First, because it must change the stations, it must raise the stations: the South Station, North Station ... and create a central station. The desire to have a central station is very clear in Brussels, first so that tourists can go directly in the heart of Brussels but also for commuters, of course, but also because Brussels wants a station on its territory. While North and the South Station are just outside the territory, there is a desire to have its own railway station. Works will be gigantic works. This is a real achievement in terms of the work of engineers, real feat to be presented worldwide as the example of what the Belgian engineers can do. In reality, it is just 3 km of track, a little less than 3 km, a tunnel that is about 2 km and this is probably one of the longest projects in the history of Belgium, certainly the longest in Brussels' history. Admittedly, this is not simple, because the land is not quite ideal to build this kind of tunnel but also because we will have to dig a real trench and the tunnel will be built in the open, that is to say, we will work while destroying all that is located above the junction. Once the work is completed, we will cover, of course, that up, in particular by building a kind of boulevard above the junction. Some speak of a boulevard which starts from nowhere and comes tonowhere, because it is not really highly thought on urban planning. It is not highly thought about either the type of buildings that will border the boulevard. Most architects today consider this is a great example of what we have done worse in regards to the contemporary modern art. And above all, we will build around this boulevard buildings which will be mainly administrative buildings, and therefore it will have the effect that the Junction will pass through what was the heart of the old Brussels, it was really a very dynamic part of the city which is thus completely destroyed. While some will say that this is a great way to clean up these old districts, these old streets, where we had an often very poor population. It's true, and it is also true that this will cause the departure of a large part of the population from this part of the city. Figures vary, but they say it's about between 11 000 and 15 000 people who will have to leave the heart of Brussels, which will not find where to relocate in Brussels, which will go outside. It was built for others, it was not built for Brussels. We did not care about residents, we did not care about architecture, about urbanism, we only cared about tourists and commuters who regularly come to Brussels. The idea was to enable them to arrive as quickly as possible in the heart of the city thanks to the central station, even at the time of "all the car", via these boulevards where it was necessary for a car to be able to enter the fastest in the heart of the city.
