movingcities.org

According to statistics Belgium is 99% urbanized. Driving through it, one is forced to rethink one's "Chinese" perception of urbanization. Belgium is fully peri-urbanized, offering a strongly mixed territory of housing developments, roads, warehouses, churches and open fields. Some coined "nebular city" for this development which is most visible in Flanders, located in the Northern half of the country.

In 1968 the Belgian architect Renaat Braem published a manifesto on his native country called "The Ugliest Country in the World". In 1979, on the eve of the 150th anniversary of Belgian independence, architect and artist Luc Deleu (T.O.P. Office) laid 'the last stone of Belgium' in his small front garden in Antwerp. Today, rather surprisingly, Belgium still exists. Some snapshots and background to a 99% urbanized territory.