The official opening of the workshop took place Thursday, April 19. At the Cultural Centre of St. Andries, the Mayor of Antwerp, Mr. Patrick Janssens welcomed all foreign guests to his City. There were residents not only from Antwerp, but also from The Hague, Rotterdam, Sofia, Vilnius and Birmingham.

Jan van Heurck from the Resident Group: ‘t Faboert and Nico Volckeryck from the St. Andries both give a historical insight in Antwerp its neighbourhoods and their residents.

Meanwhile outside the guests could work away their appetite by ordering as much French Fries as they could possibly eat at the original Belgian Fritkot! This was an informal gathering and a reunion of old friends. By the way the “frites” were very good!

This evening ended with a sparkling and exciting performance given by Maria and her Antwerp Flamenco group from Studio Garcia Lorca.

Friday April 20

We started this at the Agora University of Antwerp where Douwe Wielenga of the R4R Europe team introduced the theme: Politics in the Neighbourhood – How do residents make the City? After his introduction Douwe started up the informal discussion with everybody present at the Agora.

After the short break Mike Beazley (University of Birmingham) continued conversations on the theme with, Patrick Van de Perre (Antwerp Newspaper “The Gazette” and Manu Claeys (activist, writer and resident).

The St. Egidius Community hosted lunch at the Kamiano restaurant for the homeless. From thereon all participants started their excursions to the various neighbourhoods from Antwerp.

They neighbourhoods visited were:

• Our Garden/ University of Common Interest/ St. Andries: “A colourful cloth of active residents”
• Kievitplein/Kivietwijk: “How eight neighbourhood committees organised themselves against bad city planning”
• Resident Committee Haringrode: Ostrich Policy is not an option!
• Antwerp North/ ‘t Faboert’ and Centrum ‘De Wijk’: an active and lively area.
• Borgerhout/ Roma theater: “A Closer look at the Borgerhout area” and the Roma Theater: A monument of people.
• Resident Committee ‘t Schijntje: “There’s something brewing in the Suburbs” Deurne North anarea at the outer circle of Antwerp Center.
• Left Bank of the River Schelde ‘Europe Park’: Large Flat blocs amongst which the famous Chicago bloc, designed by architect Le Corbusier
• The former Military Hospital: A now No-Go area for residents.

At 17.00 all participants met up at the historic Town Hall, where they were very warmly welcomed by Alderman Mrs. Leen Verbist.

Everybody was very enthusiastic about what the Antwerp residents had shown them during the guided tours through their neighbourhoods. This informal gathering resulted in lively and spontaneous discussions among guests and residents and they continued during dinner.

At Centrum De Wijk at the Willy Vandersteenplein the volunteers and employees organised a big barbeque for us with live music from an accordion player. One of our guest from Vilnius, Lithuania: Oksana Tresjenko who is a professional musician and teacher also played for us and she moved all by her emotional and wonderful music.
It was an warm and informal night which was spent with good food, music and old and new friends.

Last but not least!

Saturday April 21: the big Yearly Clean up: Opsinjoren!
The great number of the participants of the workshop helped the Antwerp citizens cleaning up their neighbourhood. They helped clean the Chicago Block at the left River Bank of Antwerp North as well as at Centrum the Wijk and other neighbourhoods.

They picked up garbage, emptied bins, planted flowers and worked side by side with the Antwerp Citizens. This was a great experience and it gave a good inside in the way the people of Antwerp care for their wonderful City!