Tous·tes à la campagne !?

What does rural life look like in Wallonia today? Do people living in rural areas still have access to the countryside? Is the process of touristification inexorable? Is the grass really greener in the countryside in terms of access to property and living together? Journalists, continuing education professionals and groups of residents will be sharing their investigations, actions and observations on a certain rural exodus that is underway.

Charlotte Renouprez (Les équipes populaires, president) & Jean-Michel Leclerq (author and journalist) conducted a survey entitled ‘Foncier droit dans le mur’ for the magazine Dérivations #9. Together they went to meet the people who live in rural areas to find out what is at stake.

Since 2018, Occupons le terrain has brought together groups and associations that want to resist the logic of all-out concreting, short-term profitability and the domination of private interests with a view to ensuring the right to housing, the preservation of territories, living environments, biodiversity and green spaces.  

The first part of the evening will be devoted to the film Vers une nouvelle ruralité? (Towards a new rurality?), directed by Camille Van Durme and commissioned by the ICA, which explores the rural areas of Wallonia. This road movie reports on the walks organised by the ICA during the summer of 2024 and heralds the autumn meetings. The videographer observes the way in which these areas are viewed, listens to the issues at stake and transmits the visions developed by Belgian architects, town planners and landscape architects who are accompanying the transition to a new rurality.

Moderated by : Audrey Contesse (Institut Culturel d’Architecture Wallonie-Bruxelles)

This event is organised jointly by the Institut Culturel d'Architecture Wallonie-Bruxelles (ICA) and Recyclart - STADPLURAAL.

STADPLURAAL is Recyclart's format for the production and exploration of space, with a strong multidisciplinary focus. Dialogues are created between actors from Brussels and elsewhere (national/international), with a strong emphasis on collective practices.

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