The Youth Park, part of the protected Josaphat Park in the heart of the Brussels municipality Schaerbeek, will soon be given a complete revamp with a brand new playground.
While the municipality's green lung itself is well-known among locals in Schaerbeek and other Brussels residents, the region believes the Youth Park is still too little known. Meanwhile, a study on leisure and sports opportunities in the Schaerbeek area identified the site as one with great potential for redevelopment.
Schaerbeek, therefore, envisaged a redevelopment project that will revitalise this landscape while expanding the number of available playgrounds with new multifunctional play facilities – for which there is a great need in the neighbourhood. It received the planning permit for this redevelopment on Monday.
Credit: Atelier Canva-s / G.francart
The project specifically aims to broaden and diversify the site's uses to more target groups. Concretely, three different recreational zones will be added: a pump track – a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden by people on rollerblades, skates, bicycles or BMX bikes – as well as a climbing course for children between 6 and 12 years old and a new playground for younger children.
Preserving history
Architectural firm Atelier Caneva-S, which designed the project, also included a complete redesign of the green space, with more trees and a reduction of the paved surface.
Permeable zones will be increased by softening the site, creating green islands and adding more shrubs and plants to increase biodiversity.
Credit: Atelier Canva-s / G.francart
All the while, the heritage features of the landscape – the water features with their fountains and the spaces under the historic canopies – will also be preserved to "ensure the historical continuity of the site and its original values, both tangible and intangible."
"The Youth Park is located in the heart of Schaerbeek and will soon receive a complete redesign. There will be more plants and trees, and the history of the site will also have a place thanks to the redevelopment, with several references to the mythical 'beach of Schaerbeek'," said Ans Persoons, Brussels State Secretary for Town Planning and Heritage.
