Since 2019, several aid organizations — Doctors of the World, the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, and the Citizens’ Platform for Refugee Support — have been coordinating their services in a shared location on Avenue du Port. This humanitarian hub welcomes not only migrants but also, more broadly, any person facing extreme precarity or homelessness. Beneficiaries have access to various services: legal assistance, medical and psychological care, social support, and more. The hub can be considered a vital part of the urban facilities network, with a societal role that goes beyond immediate emergency relief.
Currently housed in an oversized logistical building, the humanitarian hub will have to vacate the premises by the end of 2026. Its future remains uncertain due to short-term funding and regional development plans for the site.
As part of the BMA Label, the Ruimteveldwerk (RVW) collective has developed a program of requirements for a future humanitarian hub. The needs and conditions have been analyzed and outlined. They are now available to any person or organization wishing to contribute to a solution. The study conducted by RVW is based on spatial analysis while also accounting for social and financial factors. A humanitarian hub is not just made of bricks or square meters — it primarily addresses human needs.

Several avenues are worth exploring: What optimizations are needed for proper integration within an urban neighborhood? Could the future Humanitarian Hub be spread across multiple sites in the city? Should it share space with similar local partners, or rather be embedded in another program that the neighborhood could also benefit from? And how does this align with the idea of a reception and orientation center that combines multiple services to eliminate access barriers?

Building this new humanitarian hub requires clear commitment, strong financial backing, and solid political support.

The program of requirements is available here.
Would you like to contribute to finding solutions? Get in touch: info@ruimteveldwerk.be 

This work is the result of the BMA Label, led by the Ruimteveldwerk collective. The final report is formatted with a nod to traditional specifications documents, because the call for future clients is very real.