FOREST URBANISMS: URBAN AND ECOLOGICAL STRATEGIES AND TOOLS FOR THE SONIAN FOREST IN BELGIUM

Abstract

This article unfolds the notion of ``forest urbanism{''} through a discussion on the intertwined evolution of the Sonian Forest and settlement development in the greater Brussels environs through history. The forest landscape is considered a fundamental structure, both for ecology (delivering numerous ecosystem services) and the urban environment. Forest urbanism is an urbanism that relies on the forest as a structuring device across scales and dimensions (in relation to mobility, settlement, and ecology). The interplay of urbanism with the large forest domain operates at the territorial scale and various forest domains of very different natures. It unravels forest and urbanism interplays within the Brussels region with quite different urban contexts (scale, density, quality, development pressure, etc.) and with quite different forms and modalities (from settlements embedded within the forest to the forest-city as adjacent domains). The Sonian Forest and its surroundings are exceptionally compelling with regards to both their continuous transformation over time, contemporary challenges, and possible future trajectories. The article traces the parallel, intertwined processes and complex relations of deforestation / afforestation and settlement / restructuring of urban environments. As will become evident, the relationship that always iterated between a productive and consumptive one, urgently requires a recalibration where exploitation / consumption is balanced by protection / production.