Today, Singerbird presents the Josaphat Master Development Plan, more commonly known in Brussels as the “Josaphat Wasteland”. We take a closer look at what’s at stake in this new project. Whether you’re considering a future investment, a commercial lease or choosing a school for your child, it’s always a good idea to keep abreast of the latest developments in Brussels.

The primary objective of this project is to build a new mixed-use, sustainable neighborhood, including private and public housing, an active linear park and attractive urban activity.

The Josaphat project is located between Schaerbeek and Evere, on the site of a former sorting center that has been disused for over 27 years.

The development plan calls for 1,800 new homes, 45% of them public, a school and two crèches. A sports campus, offices, green spaces, a hotel… It will focus on mobility and sustainability.

For the moment, there’s no date yet set for the start of work, as a public inquiry is currently underway until November 25, to gather citizens’ opinions.

Indeed, this urban project is provoking numerous reactions, as this 25-hectare wasteland, currently closed to the public, is home to an impressive biodiversity, right in the center of our capital.

However, it’s vital for a city like Brussels to take action to improve the quality of life of its citizens, and it’s important to be able to maintain biodiversity areas around the city and encourage urban development within it. Projects such as the Josaphat PAD are helping to make the city denser and more mixed. The denser a city becomes, the lower its ecological impact. Mobility infrastructures are diversifying, distances travelled by residents are decreasing, green mobility solutions are increasing (electric bikes and scooters, etc.), and costly infrastructures such as roads, lighting and drainage systems are being optimized. Building a denser city also helps combat urban sprawl and the expansion of cities into agricultural areas, as has been the case in recent decades.

The current debate about the biodiversity of the Josaphat wasteland is one that shouldn’t be taking place in the city center, since it’s crucial to make urban cities denser in order to preserve biodiversity outside the city.

We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this project in future articles,

See you soon, the SingerBird team.

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