Program > Day 3 - Saturday 22 June

SATURDAY 22 JUNE 2024

8:30: Departure from CIVA (by coach)

• A Walk in the 1960s: The Anderlecht Park System

On our stroll, we will explore the parks and public spaces created from the 1960s onwards in Anderlecht, a municipality situated west of Brussels. Initiated by the community’s mayor, and directed by the urbanist Jef Janssens, this ambitious decades-long project occupied the core of a large-scale construction program aimed at mitigating the need for housing after World War II. Ranging in type from vast urban parks to neighbourhood parks, squares, and playgrounds, these open spaces reveal the richness of thinking applied to both large-scale landscapes and small urban elements. During the visit we will explore landscapes as varied as miniature golf courses, neighbourhood parks, and the Park of the Lakes (Parc des étangs) that collectively represent both the period’s diverse landscape types and the large-scale thinking that governed their organization and realization. Certain projects included on our visit will no doubt raise questions about the unfortunate lack of knowledge about the landscape architectural heritage of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the sad lack of interest in its preservation.

 Anderlecht, Minigolf, 1959. Photo Ursula Wieser

12:30: Lunch in the Meise Botanic Garden (carried on by the organisers)

• Discover the Botanic Garden – Plantentuin, Meise

The Garden is housed in the historic Bouchout Estate, surrounding Bouchout Castle. Its 200 acres comprise wild woodland, several gardens and historically landscape areas, an orangery (1818) with a walled garden offering shelter to semi-hardly plants and a peony collection, nineteenth century follies and a large glasshouse complex, the largest of which accessible to the public; the most remarkable is the Plant palace. In total, the Garden cultivates approximately 20 000 living plant species from all around the world. Half of them are cultivated outdoor in different gardens associating semi-natural habitats and flowerbed collections, wild plants and cultivars. Plantentuin Meise hosts a very rich research library, a large Herbarium and a seed bank of several millions of seeds.  

 Botanic Garden, pedestrian walkway in the forest canopy in the Plant Palace. Photo Nathalie de Harlez

13:30: Departure of the guided visits (selected option)

• • Option A. Plant palace (vegetal World tour)

During your walk through the greenhouses, you will discover plants from the desert, the savannah, the tropical rainforest and more, and you will learn how they have adapted to their living conditions. You will breathe in the scents of the Mediterranean biome. One of the greenhouses is dedicated to the influence of mankind on plants.  The Evolution Greenhouse takes you on a journey through time and shows how land plants have evolved from millions of years ago to today.

• Option B. Seasonal tour in the garden - Guided tour in English
• Option C. Seasonal tour in the garden - Guided tour in French

Nature being in constant evolution, the Botanic Garden offers flowerings through the seasons. During your walk in the Garden you will appreciate the historic collections of outdoor plants. The visit will focus on the seasonal blooming plants.

15:00-16:00: free time in the Botanic Garden (outdoor and glasshouse complex)

16:30: departure of the coach

17:30 (latest): return to CIVA