The A-Team: grassroots civic group calls on citizens to shape Antwerp’s future
As confidence in traditional politics wanes, new grassroots group Plan A is tapping the public for ideas on how to create a more sustainable city by 2024
Crowdsourcing the city
Plan A, which was formed in late 2016 and launched earlier this year, comprises a 15-strong “A-Team” of volunteers – among them entrepreneurs, social workers and community organisers. Added to this core are about 40 unofficial partners including colleges, cultural bodies and diversity groups.
Frustrated by the slow pace of political change – local elections across the country fall every six years – its architects felt that a more mobile response was needed to address pressing issues like health, education and poverty.
“We’re wondering what we can do ourselves instead of waiting to see what the government will do,” explains spokesperson Wietse Vermeulen. “I meet more and more people who think in the same way, who have the same questions: Where are we going? What kind of city would we like in five or 10 years?”
Closing the gap
One of Plan A’s main goals is to close the gap between citizens and their political representatives. “There was a study in Belgium that said four out of five people don’t believe in politicians anymore,” says Vermeulen. “That’s horrible. I think most politicians want to do good and work for a better society, but there’s something in this system that isn’t working.”
To this end, Plan A has set about gathering the public’s proposals on how to create a greener, more equal city. From some 70 ideas they have selected 16 that they hope to develop into more concrete plans – a figure likely to rise.
Their role will be as a kind of go-between. “Next year with the major local elections we want to bring these ideas to the council and say ‘What do you think about this?’” says Vermeulen. “If they don’t believe in them, maybe we can achieve some of them by ourselves.”
The headline event at their April launch weekend saw participants at 25 starting points attempt to form a human chain stretching right around Antwerp. While De Grote Omarming (The Great Embrace, pictured above) didn’t quite come off, it was a powerful symbolic act nonetheless.
“We wanted to show that together we’re all part of a chain, and that we love our city so we embrace it,” says Vermeulen. “We wanted to show that we are the city,” he adds, revealing that a similar event is planned for next summer.
Reflections on equality
That same weekend Plan A clubbed together with the local branch of Critical Mass, a worldwide cycling group that runs monthly political-protest rides. By harnessing its widespread network, it managed to double the usual attendance. “It’s what we should be doing more and more,” says Vermeulen. “On the one hand with the internet, on the other just by coming together.”
This collective spirit has led to alliances with likeminded individuals and organisations keen to add their voice to the chorus. All participants dictate their own involvement – be it making a proposal or actively developing it.
For us it’s a good chance to bring forward the ideas of people who aren’t represented
Samenlevingsopbouw, which runs community centres helping the socially vulnerable in Antwerp and beyond, has held several meetings with Plan A.
“For us it’s a good chance to bring forward the ideas of people who aren’t represented, but also to encourage a wider reflection about equality, and the necessity of meeting people from other backgrounds,” says staff member Sofie Sas.
“With our community centres we try to focus on the things people have in common, which is what we like about Plan A,” she adds. “It’s something constructive that unites people in making plans for the city.”
Activist Kaoutar Zaitouni, who helped with a Plan A talent night last year, was also attracted by the group’s diversity. “It brings together people of all colours, all ages, male, female, it doesn’t matter,” she says. “And there are a lot of choices. Whatever your interest, you can find something suitable.”
Education in the open
One project on the table arose after Plan A was approached by Karel de Grote and AP Hogeschool Antwerpen university colleges and Antwerp University, who are keen to bring knowledge out of the ivory tower and on to the streets. It’s still early days, but the hope is to set up theatres on public squares so the public can enjoy free lectures, and find out what the often insular bodies are working on.
Another initiative being spearheaded by neighbourhood association Antwerpen aan ’t Woord (Antwerp Speaking) seeks to create a green corridor through the Sint-Andries quarter.
“Cities are hotspots, so what are we going to do about it when the temperature rises?” asks Vermeulen. “Maybe we can reorganise our cities. Antwerpen aan ’t Woord is doing this right now but nobody knows about it. We asked how we could make it into a bigger project.”
Plan A brings together people of all colours, all ages, male, female, it doesn’t matter
Other than a barbecue planned for 26 August, Plan A has been relatively dormant over the summer. But come September the group will knuckle down to transform their ideas into tangible plans in the run-up to the elections.
Initially the thinking was to appoint 100 “mayors” to manage these plans, but Plan A’s horizontal structure and a general nervousness at the term led them to scrap the concept in favour of ideas-led groups.
“It felt like people heard the word ‘mayor’ and thought it was really ambitious and they’d have to do all sorts of things and really engage for a long time,” says Ciska Hoet, another public face of the group. “It was a beautiful thought, but it didn’t really work for the public.”
Out on the streets
New for next month are fortnightly brainstorming nights where anyone can present an idea to the public for five minutes. The second half of the sessions will be devoted to Q&As and building networks. Every month Plan A hopes to spotlight a different proposal in the media.
While such a project could be infinite, the group does have a framework: the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to achieve things like zero hunger and gender equality by 2030, and have been adopted by the EU.
“Our ideas have to be connected with those UN development goals,” says Hoet. “It’s about figuring out ways in which they can be adapted locally.”
Meanwhile, those sceptical of citizens’ ability to effect change need only look to the success of action groups like Ringland, for whom Vermeulen works. Its proposals for resolving Antwerp’s mobility problems – the city is among Europe’s most traffic-congested – recently led to an historic agreement with the Flemish government and city of Antwerp over the future of the ring road.
“There wasn’t an idea for a better solution for the highway, the politicians weren’t really interested, and then we went out on the streets and people responded,” recalls Vermeulen. “Now everyone wants it. It’s the first time we’ve pulled off something like this.”
Just say hello
Vermeulen also cites the success of new Borgerhout carpentry collective VAK Atelier, which carries out custom projects and repairs, and – further from home – the headline-grabbing grassroots movements in Frome and Bristol, England.
Frome, a small town in Somerset in southwestern England, wholeheartedly rejected traditional party politics when a coalition of forward-looking independents, frustrated at the status quo, gained all 17 seats on the local town council in 2015.
With its DIY approach, this “flatpack democracy” seemed to have learnt a thing or two from neighbour Bristol, which successfully introduced its own currency, the Bristol pound, in 2012, to boost the local economy.
These are interesting times. So much is possible, we have to try
The latter is something Plan A is apparently considering, alongside revisiting the embattled educated system. A particular preoccupation is ensuring that children all have access to a packed lunch. “How can they have good results if they don’t eat all day?” Vermeulen asks. “It’s unbelievable that in this rich Western country this is happening.”
Not all its goals are so bold, he says: getting residents to say hello to one another would be a start, and something they don’t need the government for.
“We’re not going to solve everything in a year, or in five years, but the main thing is to show people that they are a part of this society,” he says. “Tell us your idea and we will think about it and try to get it on the agenda of politicians. These are interesting times. So much is possible, we have to try.”
Photo courtesy Plan A/Facebook
