Transforming Brussels into an international city – Reflections on ‘Brusselization’

The paper illustrates the transformation of Brussels since the 1960s with a special focus on ‘Brusselization’, and evaluates its consequences for the capital of Belgium today. ‘Brusselization’, defined as a destruction of certain areas of Brussels’ urban tissue, became apparent during the 1960s and 1970s, mainly as a result of the Belgian Town and Country Planning Act approved in 1962. This article describes the significance of that document for the redevelopment of Brussels and introduces the reader to the typology of the main actors in the city’s urban changes. As a leading political city in Europe, Brussels is currently in dramatic need of a new urban vision that would overcome the negative aspects of its former alteration. Detailed explanation of the cases presented in this essay, especially those of the Northern Quarter and the Leopold Quarter, may facilitate a better understanding the process of Brussels’ transformation since the 1960s and inform appropriate urban government policy development in the future.

► Detailed explanation of manifold aspects of the ‘Brusselization’ phenomenon.
► Introduction to the typology of the main actors in Brussels’ urban changes.
► Importance of the Belgian Town and Country Planning Act 1962 for ‘Brusselization’.
► The Northern and European Quarters as two crucial cases of Brussels’ redevelopment.