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Events | Success for the first edition of "Immeubles en fête" "In the street, we no longer smile at each other" ALAIN GÉRARD Her building seems open to all the winds. It is almost 6 pm. And Catherine Opdebeek, managing agent of 128 chaussée d'Ixelles, has decided that this is a good hour for an aperitif. A good hour too to invite the building's residents but also the neighbours and, in the end, anyone who, passing in the street, is seized by an irresistible urge for conviviality and chats with strangers. This Tuesday, the "Immeubles en fête" operation successfully lived its first Brussels edition. Come from the banks of the Seine to the banks of the Senne, at the initiative of Carl De Moncharline, a well-known figure of a "Brussels on the move", it was part of European Neighbours' Day. With a message as clear as it is simple: "Go and meet your neighbour"… that stranger. At Catherine's, as in hundreds of other homes in the capital – the organisers speak of thousands – the message got through. People crowd in. They pass each other. They talk about everything and nothing. They have a drink in the inner courtyard. But they also come to visit the last coal-powered lift in the Brussels Region, a Stigler from 1926, or to admire bewitching Art Deco stained glass. In short, they get to know each other. Quite simply. I am meeting people I did not know who tell me they live in the neighbourhood, confides Claudine, whose photographer husband, André, takes the opportunity to exhibit his best pictures. In the street, we do not even smile at each other any more. That shows how important such an initiative is, continues Marie. As for Simon, he says he appreciates discovering an inner courtyard he had no idea existed: For sure, we should do this more often.