Demo description
Walk the line: 8 9

From the Ninoofse Steenweg, we turn right and enter the Dilbeekstraat. A bit hard to find since the street names are gone. A descending street with yellow brick houses with big gardens.

There is a sandy footpath on your left hand. When you go in and turn around facing the Dilbeekstraat, the borderline between Molenbeek and Anderlecht passes in front of you.
On the Falkplan map of Brussels which I use, this footpath is marked as a road without a name, and it extends on the other side of the Rue Dilbeek. The maps by De Rouck or Michelin do not mark any road on this location. In the street itself, there is no visible trace of changes to the streetplan made in the past.

The next junction is the Zaadstraat. This street might be difficult to locate, since its nameplate has disappeared from the actual site. Here the borderline crosses, and enters the house bordering a green abandoned lot, which, looking at the aged state of the sign attached to the right wall telling us that it is ‘forbidden to enter the works’ has been vacant for a while. Proceed on the Dilbeekstraat and turn left on the Rue de la Laiterie.

Demo description
Walk the line: 7 8 9

Standing on the Ninoofse Steenweg at Metro Gare de l’Ouest facing North, turn left into Rue Verheyen. You can pick up the borderline after it has passed through the buildings of SCA Packaging, situated on the Rue Verheyen number 18-28. Having seen that here the border is safely surveilled by a company who’s packaging solutions are improving the quality of everyday life, and will not let dogs illegally trespass from Molenbeek to Anderlecht over its terrain, you can walk the borderline for 50 meters before again seeing it disappear in another fenced off terrain (11 on the map) between the building of Globe Transport, Agence en Douane et Transport and the West Office Center on number 39 which is easily recognisable by the logo of AEG on top of the building; the company with a daily concern about Service.

Turn right on the R.S. Denayerstraat, right again on Chaussee de Ninove, where on your right hand, the Molenbeek borderline emerges from the passage next to the General Yachting Center. (12 on the map)

It crosses the Ninoofse Steenweg, cuts through the Total petrol station and passes through a big building hosting numerous companies.

On many locations like these where the borderline passes through semi-public space or industrial terrains, I face a dilemma: Should I keep walking the border untill it becomes physically impossible, or should I stop where public space ends? For the moment I keep a pragmatic approach, and let the situation at hand decide what I should do. To make sure I will reach the end of my route I will not linger too much in this phase of the walk. So instead of entering the shopping mall to find out which shop has the dubious honour to host the borderline, I stay in the safe, turn around and walk the Ninoofse Steenweg in the direction of Place Henri de Smet.

Demo description
Walk the line: 6 7 8

The above image shows the Molenbeek frontier moving from Rue Birminham (back) towards the Verheydenstraat (front) Right of the borderline: Anderlecht, Left: Molenbeek.

The terrain neighbouring the ‘Echo’ office building (visible just above the red line, see previous post) is in use by the public transport company STIB/MIVB as a transit- and parkingplace. Entrance is forbidden and restricted to STIB/MIVB vehicles, everybody else is requested to ask permission. After you have visited the MIVB/STIB website it should no longer come as a surprise that they love paperwork and written requests. Before even having reached their homepage visitors are warned that hyperlinking is not allowed unless specific permission is granted to applicants who have filled out a requestform.
On the terrain just behind the parkingplace, all kinds of building activities are taking place, resulting in a gigantic building pit. Several constructors are simultaneously at work here: on Rue Nic. Doyen, Building company De Meyer warns us that it is necessary to obtain a permit before we can enter the terrain with a private vehicle. On the same fence, around the corner on the Ninoofse steenweg, the signs which are put up by constructor De Meuter make clear that entrance to the site is forbidden.

Demo description
Walk the line: 5 6 7

There is something strange with the bridge across the Kanaal van Charleroi, that connects Rue Ropsy – Chaudron with Leon Delacroix straat. (see 8 on the map) It is designed as a symmetrical bridge, with a stairway on each of its four corners. But only the two on the South West side and the North West side remain; the two stairs on the other side leading to Quai de Mariemont (North East) and Quai de l’Industrie (South East) have been integrated in business terrains. If you look over de railing you can see that the old structure of the steps on the NE side which is still there, now serves as gardenspace for A. Dewitte et Fils Ets sa at Rue Leon Delacroix 30.

The Molenbeek borderline travels northwarts along Rue Leon Delacroix. (See 9 on the map) At the junction with Rue de Birmingham where Leon Delacroix curves into Doyen straat, the borderline goes straight forward entering the grounds of a big officebuilding at Birmingham straat number 131, which houses Echo le nouveau quotidien de l’economie et de la finance. (Read l’Echo on line)

Demo description
Walk the line: 4 5 6

From the SE corner of Rue de Compas and Heyvaert straat, the Molenbeek borderline runs straight into the building on the opposite corner. (7 on the map) It goes out their backdoor and heads in the direction of the Canal de Charleroi. Walk up to the abbatoirs at the end of Heyvaert and turn right on the Rue Ropsy – Chaudron.

The borderline emerges again from the terrain of the VCV- Vlees Centrale Viande SA at Nijverheidskaai 155. (Right on the image) As can be expected from an Anderlecht meat company they deal in any type of butchered animal. (see website for company info)
From here the border cuts across the canal into the North East corner of the Delacroix Bridge. (8 on the map) Go underneath the bridge on the Quai de l’industrie, up the stairs and over the bridge.

Demo description
Walk the line: 3 4 5

The image above shows Rue de Liverpool facing North. The Molenbeek borderline enters the street somewhere halfway the block between Heyvaert and Scheikundige straat, approximately where etikettenhandel DeSmedt is. It goes straight across into a large fenced off terrain used by Abou-Zeid , who has explicitly signposted his website, and a company called Digitac N.V. When the guard of Digitac N.V. gives me the evil eye I don’t even dare to think of entering.

Walk back to the Rue Heyvaert, turn left, you can pick up the trail in front of Delcopa N.V, one of the many car dealers in this area. (6 on the map)The people in charge of this terrain must have a strongly developed feel for poetry: companies signposted at the gate are: Delcopa, Decooman and Decosa. The borderline stays on the South East pavement.

When you look through the gate of Delcopa, you can imagine the weird path followed here by the borderline.

Demo description
Walk the line: 2 3 4

The Molenbeek borderline leaves the terrain of Stade vander Putten Stadion on the westside, where it enters the terrain of Bourgeois Automobiles; inaccessible unless you are a customer. (In which case you ring the doorbell or call 02 5382401) The line re-appears in the public domain at Rue Heyvaert 40-52, where it leaves Bourgeois, crosses the street, and runs over the pavement on the North West side in the direction of the Abbatoirs of Cureghem. (see 3 on the map)

Just After Abou Zeid Import / export at nr. 102-104 the line crosses Rue Heyveart and again enters private terrain. (see 4 on the map)
Call Abou Zeid to stay true to the Line (02 5221549) or just walk on and pick it up on the Rue de Liverpool.

Demo description
Walk the line: 1 2 3

At the Quai de l’industrie the Molenbeek borderline takes a sharp turn left (2 on the map), just before Rue Heyvaert, entering the terrain of the Eglise Apostolique Chretienne de Bruxelles. There’s nobody home, and it’s Monday morning; not a good time for a church visit. A pedestrian suggests I walk around the block and try to enter the terrain through the Stade Charles Van der Putten Stadion at Boulevard de l’Abbetoir 51.
This works well. The Stade Van der Putten is managed by the Service des Sports of the city of Brussels and publicly accessible. When the gate is open, you can easily walk in.

Allthough it is hard to see on the De Rouck map, it looks like the borderline crosses the terrain on the edge of the building behind the sportsfield. This is a dead end for me, there is no exit in the back of the terrain.

Demo description
Walk the line: 1 2

The first part of my walk around Molenbeek starts at the Porte de Flandre. Following the Canal de Charleroi (nr.1 on the map) southwards the first obstruction I encounter is the canal itself. In front of the Belevue brewery the borderline crosses the water. Here we have two options:
– Descend to the water using the stairs down to the waterlevel and cross the channel via the sluice at Place du Trangle, stay down and return on the other side; climb up using the ladder nearest to the line.
– The easier way across is using the bridge at the Ninoofse Steenweg and pick up the trail at the Quai de l’Industrie.

Walk the line: 1

I started walking the boundary of the community Molenbeek.

Looking at my De Rouck and Falkplan citymaps of Brussels, it struck me that the biggest lines were indicating borders between communities. The cumulative borders of the 19 communities in Brussels add up to a substantial length. It sounds illogical to draw borderlines between communities on a map which is purely about planning routes through a city: these borderlines are not visible in the streets and there are no signs indicating their position which means they are useless when navigating the city.

Staying on the exact edge between two neighborhoods will be more difficult than following a road, but I am curious what difficulties I will find on my way, and what obstructions I will encounter. Interpreting the borderline as a pathway is not the most scientific approach of reading a map, but I expect that walking this line will generate navigational information that can not be delivered by a cartographic overview. Where maps are about norms, egalisation and clearity, walking weaves differences, contrasts and varieties together in a personal tale of a city. When navigating a city by foot the architectural details, city views, sounds and temporary situations you see and experience build an empirical understanding of the environment.

The line around Molenbeek penetrates buildings, invades private terrain and travels over waters and other inaccessable areas in unpredictable figures. I am curious to find out where walking this border permits views on the differences of the neighbourhoods it seperates. What is the width of a borderline? Can logic explanations for its shape be derived from the position of buildings, en what does this chartographic existence yet visual abscence of the borderline mean for the urban environment and the lives of citizens?