Canal Plan: 1st International Grand Prize for Excellence in Urban Planning

ISOCARP’s international jury has awarded the 1st Grand Prize for Excellence in Urban Planning to the Brussels-Capital Region for its Canal Plan.

The International Society of City and Regional Planners is a leading professional association for urban development recognised by the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Every year it awards prizes for urban projects or urban planning initiatives demonstrating a high degree of excellence in innovation, sustainability, socio-economic cohesion and cross-disciplinarity. 

Submitted by perspective.brussels (the Brussels Planning Agency) on behalf of the Region, the Canal Plan won 1st Prize this year, ahead of three other projects from Canada, China and Poland. This is the second year running that a Belgian project has taken 1st Prize, last year’s winner being Ghent with the Ghent Canal Zone Project.

The ISOCARP jury felt that the Canal Plan is ‘an ambitious and innovative multi-disciplinary planning tool, developed to achieve the urban (re)development of the central districts while tackling the main socio-economic and environmental challenges’.

perspective.brussels is associated with the development of the Canal Plan, the management of which has been coordinated since 2015 by the Chief Architect, Kristiaan Borret, with a cross-disciplinary team bringing together several regional bodies in Brussels: the Urban Development Corporation (SAU-MSI), Brussels Urban Development (BDU-BSO) and perspective.brussels / the Brussels Planning Agency.

perspective.brussels welcomes this magnificent international recognition by urban planning experts, who have used this Prize to reward the work done by the Canal Plan teams and a new method of city development in Brussels based on collaborative work, innovation in governance and flexibility.

More information about the ISOCARP Excellence Awards: www.isocarp.org