Noorderzon 2025
HOOP | Parijs, afscheid van automatismen en nooit meer slopen
Pollux
Kruissingel, 9712 XN GroningenHope, as an antidote – we desperately need it. As a society, we face such great challenges that we often don't know where to start. With good stories and inspired conversations, duos who barely know each other provide an antidote to the looming threat of apocalyptic scenarios.
Want to attend all three conversations? Buy a combo ticket and get a discount!
An Inspired Conversation as a Remedy Against Despondency
“We must embrace what is there and make the best of it – become champions in complex tasks where we preserve buildings, transform them, and reconcile them with their surroundings. That is much more interesting than saying: we must erase all seventies architecture.” These are the words of Kristiaan Borret, the City Architect of Brussels, who was once called the 'patron saint' of all city architects by former City Architect of Groningen Jeroen de Willigen.
The way Borret deals with themes such as sustainability, demolition, circularity, and finding value in seemingly worthless buildings in Brussels is an inspiration for Groningen. Especially for the Groningen city architects Ben van der Meer and Michiel Van Driessche, who have made achieving the Paris climate goals a focal point of their agenda. Plenty of topics for discussion among the three city architects. How do we create a truly sustainable city?
