Threats to the Maelbeek: from struggles to urban victories

If the Maelbeek stream is no longer visible today, its presence is still strongly marked in the Brussels urban landscape: the ponds of Ixelles, that of the Leopold park, or even the square Marie-Louise constitute as many vestiges of the many bodies of water it fed and still allow today to locate its path. Source of numerous floods and judged responsible for the transmission of diseases, the Maelbeek was vaulted in the second half of the 19th century. But these works did not prevent the floods: rue Gray, along which an industrious population lives, is still frequently underwater. This is the reason why, in the 1960s, the authorities designed a vast sanitation project for the valley. This plan was fortunately not applied: it would have indeed radically changed the face of these picturesque neighborhoods of Ixelles, Brussels, and Etterbeek, by the creation of an urban highway, along which luxury buildings were to rise.\n\nFollowing the route of this river, the visit will retrace this impressive saga of Brussels urban history, whose twists and turns will continue until the 2000s! It will show how the protests of the inhabitants and the work of the associations made it possible to avoid a destructive project, and to refocus attention on the rehabilitation of neighborhoods rather than on their demolition. The visit will end with the evocation of another of these urban victories: that of the rescue of the INR building, place Flagey, whose reallocation was considered impossible! Destined for demolition, the "Paquebot" of Joseph Diongre was to be replaced by an office building...