Towards urban governance: Twenty years of neighbourhood contracts in the Brussels-Capital Region

• Examination of the problems of urban development in Brussels.
• Evaluation of neighbourhood contracts as an important tool in governing Brussels.
• Found that neighbourhood contracts have restored the proper role of districts in Brussels’ urban development.
• Found that Brussels needs a systemic approach to improve urban governance management.

At the end of the twentieth century, domestic resistance began to shape urban policy on urban governance, giving citizens new tools to decide about the development of their cities. In Brussels, one such tool is a system of neighbourhood contracts, which was introduced in 1994 after the creation of the Brussels-Capital Region in 1989. This paper describes the two decades of neighbourhood contracts and, despite some criticism, considers them to be an important instrument in governing Brussels. The article traces the evolution of neighbourhood contracts and discusses whether these contracts can be an adequate solution to the challenges facing the smallest region in Belgium.