Reframing Charleroi

The proposal focuses on the inner city of Charleroi, Belgium, where vacancy and unemployment are major problems. The aim is to reframe and reuse the empty plots, mapped on the atlas of vacancy, by creating a network of collective facilities, where education, creation and experimentation are central.

Located on an important axis connecting the church with the historical heart of the city, place Charles II, the ‘Ilôt de France’ has a strategic position and great potential. The project redefines the perimeter and gives a new identity to the square, that was previously just left over space, space between an old car park and a building block that was demolished. Nowadays it’s no man’s land, neglected and undefined. The intervention emphasizes the need for the current plaza to be clarified and activated.