Café CIRCUIT @ the Circular South Community Centre in times of COVID 19
Every Thursday evening during the summer of 2020, Circuit welcomed the residents of Circular South to Café Circuit: inspiring evenings on various themes.
Café Circuit started with a bang: a visit to Palazzo Verde, one of the greenest buildings to be in Belgium with a micro forest and large courtyard - a strong example of sustainable architecture. During this first edition of Café Circuit the visitors were taken on a tour around the construction site. They learned to k now everything about the future community center and the upcoming activities. Since bottom-up participation and co-creation was one of the key elements of the whole process so far, residents were empowered to give feedback and input on how the future community center could add value to the communal life in the neighborhood.
The second evening of Café Circuit was also a big success. Two experts were given the floor to talk about the problem of the impending water scarcity: Arno Doggen (The River CleanUp) and Ronny Van Looveren (project manager Climate Adaptation City of Antwerp). These talks were followed by the screening of the documentary River Blue. These talks together with the screening sparked a debate about the increasing importance of water (scarcity) in the near future among the participants. A discussion that was held over a glass of wine at the summer rooftop bar at Plein Publiek.
The people from BEEGO took the stage at the third Café Circuit. BEEGO is an organization that engages smart computer science students to help you at home or remotely. In July we had the honor of having them visit Circuit. They gave an overview of five indispensable mobile apps that make life easier and more sustainable. TooGoodtoGo and Vinted, apps that fight food and fashion waste respectively, are just two examples of what was discussed on the third Thursday evening of Café Circuit.
The theme evenings were concluded with a walk through the Hoboken polder - a beautiful spot of nature that is hidden in the backyard of Circular South. A professional guide of NGO ‘Natuurpunt’ provided the necessary background information about the local fauna and flora.
Circular economy
