Belgium's big cities see wealth shift to suburbs
According to a new study by UCLouvain, wealth is transferring from Belgium's major city centres to their suburbs. This bucks the trend seen in most other European cities and in the US, where city centres remain more affluent.
The study, published on Thursday in the journal Regards Economiques, has shown that the income of citizens in every major Belgian city — Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, Charleroi, Ghent, Bruges, Leuven and Namur — is declining.
While these cities accounted for 30 per cent of national taxable income in 1977, by 2021 this figure had fallen to 20.4 per cent. The average income per inhabitant in the city centres is now also lower than in suburban areas.
According to Vincent Vandenberghe, the professor who authored the study, this decline is mainly due to suburbanisation. This is an "old but persistent phenomenon" whereby the wealthy and middle classes have gradually moved from city centres to the suburbs since the 1960s. This trend is exacerbated by businesses also moving away from cities.
Specific to Belgium
This evolution contrasts sharply with the situation in most other countries in Europe and the US, where major cities are generally more prosperous than their suburbs. Brussels is the only capital city in the study where the centre is significantly poorer than the surrounding municipalities.
The study identifies several factors specific to Belgium that have reinforced the trend towards suburbanisation.
For example, land use planning is more permissive on the outskirts, and there are no binding green belt measures to limit urban sprawl. Vandenberghe also mentions fiscal policies that favour car use and commuters, as well as a lack of strategy for dispersing migrant populations, which results in their concentration in urban centres.
"In a context of continuing suburbanisation, there is an urgent need for ambitious, coherent and integrated urban policies," says Vandenberghe. "If not, territorial inequalities and socio-economic imbalances are likely to continue to grow."
The Grand Place in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
Related news
