Report III: Introduction to the project. Brussels by us, collective ideas for a smart future.

This report describes the first steps of the Living Lab methodology for the Central Zone: the mapping of stakeholders, the selection of cases and the set-up of the first co-creation workshop. In March and April 2019, a mapping of stakeholders active in the cultural sector around the Central zone was performed. This mapping allowed to have a good overview of potential partners for use cases around the animation of the public space around the pedestrian zone in the city center. Next, the stakeholders were invited for a first co-creation workshop around this theme. The workshop took place on 2/4/2019 for almost four hours with 17 participants. The main theme of investigation was the animation of the public space related to the main squares in and around the pedestrian zone: Munt square, De Brouckère, Foyers, Beurs, Fontainas square & St-Catherine square. Through the World Café method, suggestions from participants were gathered about common space (infrastructure, sociocultural and artistic activities & daily life needs), commerce (type of shops), and services (type of service offering). The results can be consulted in this report, which is also the final report about the Central Zone. Further activities, including a large-scale questioning through the mobile application, were not organised due to overlap in activities with other research studies and participatory processes set up by the City of Brussels. The research results from this phase were handed over to the relevant partners for further investigation and inspiration in their trajectories.