The canal area has very little greenery and is therefore very sensitive to heat waves. Thus the area accelerates the greening of the axis. Between last year and 2026, 14,000 trees and shrubs will be added. There’s also a lot of dilution.
More intense summer heatwaves and heavier rainfall: We have faced increasingly extreme weather in recent years. This is a trend that will only gain momentum in the coming years. Heat in particular seems to be a growing problem in the city: on summer nights the temperature in the city can be up to ten degrees warmer than in the surrounding area, leading to health problems and heat deaths.
A look at the Brussels heat map shows that the situation is most dire in the wide canal zone, a very densely built-up area that also has little green space.
Four football fields
Therefore, the Brussels region is moving forward in the greening of the wide canal area. Between 2022 and 2026, 14,000 trees and shrubs will be added to that area, according to figures from Prominence I looked at. 30,000 square meters will also be paved, enough for three hectares or more than four football fields.
This concerns the Brussels Mobility, Brussels Environment and Port projects, bodies that fall under the authority of Elke van den Brandt (Green) and Alain Maron (Ecolo). Other plans, which will make the canal zone greener but fall to the Beliris Federal Investment Fund, are not yet included in the figures. This includes the opening of the Zenne in Maximilian Park (Max aan de Zenne), on which work should begin in 2025. Further development of the Bestbroek area on the canal in Anderlecht has not yet been accounted for.
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© Brussels Movement / Brussels Environment / Port of Brussels
The largest mitigation efforts are taking place mainly outside the already fully built centre. For example, 15,000 square meters of road surface will be removed along Vorkroisenlaan, north of the Royal Domain. The works will be carried out in the autumn of 2025. Along the Vilvoordsesteenweg – the canal bank north of the royal domain – 2,600 square meters of road surface will be renewed and at least 8,500 trees and shrubs added. In Vilvordselaan on the eastern side of the canal, another 5,000 trees are planted in the bare central reserve today.
Rain water buffer
Close to the centre, Becopark, between Saintctelette and Redersplein, is another project with an area of 10,000 square metres. The park has been partially open since this summer.
Moreover, in the central region, these projects often include smaller projects. For example, in the Nende Linielaan area along the Kleine Ring, another 800 square meters will be paved and greened as of this winter. During the same period, another 1,300 square meters of road surface in Ninovceport will be removed and converted to open land. Kleine Zennepark, which will be connected to Ninoofsepoort Park, will provide another 3,000 square metres.
In the south, the Klein Islandbrugge Bridge (or Pierre Marchant Bridge) stands out, with 3,200 square meters of unpaved land by 2026. Another 109 trees will be added to the Corregem and Bergensteenweg bridges.
The region’s efforts are not limited to reducing and increasing greenery. The areas concerned are also managed environmentally and rainwater is kept out of the sewers as much as possible.
Elke van den Brandt points out that the greening plan is just the beginning of the necessary catch-up process. “Trees play a crucial role in the city: they purify the air, produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, and in summer one tree provides as much cooling as five air conditioners. More green spaces also contribute to a better quality of life: with fewer trees Or plants or lawns where you can play or sit, the neighborhood can instantly relax and this improves the quality of life for all generations.”
Simon de Muynck, coordinator of the Urban Ecology Centre, welcomes the fact that the district is creating three hectares of public space in the canal zone. “It is necessary and not a thing. At the same time, it is just three hectares in an area of course of 16,000 hectares. So it should not stop there. For example, if we start making car parks permeable on a large scale, you can “Making a much bigger leap in terms of stormwater softening and stormwater management.”
De Muynck also believes that Brussels is not looking enough at the broader picture. “You also have to wonder how much space will be added in the coming years, which will undo the dilution of public space. In recent decades, we have paved the area at a very high pace. And in other places it is now increasingly common.” About the maximum degree of soil hardening. This is the case in Wallonia, among other countries, after heavy floods. “This is a debate I rarely hear in Brussels, but it is necessary.”
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