Collection(s) : L'âme des peuples
Paru le 23/12/2016 | Broché 88 pages
Tout public
translated by David Jester
Brussels
Not your ordinary city
Brussels fascinates and intrigues. How is it that this city - a hodgepodge where the worst atrocities of urban planning sit side by side with architectural jewels - can be so charming and seductive ?
Landlocked within Flanders but mainly French-speaking, the Kingdom of Belgium's multicultural capital, whose 19 « communes » range from working-class Molenbeek to upscale Uccle, has become the country's artistic centre and an extraordinarily creative centrifugal force. Crossing Brussels today is like travelling through time or taking a tour of diverse dialects and world foods.
This little book is not a guide, but rather a key. It invites the reader to understand the slow transformation of an ancient bourgeois town which many thought had drifted into a deep sleep. Until it became the capital of Europe. In order to be understood, Brussels must be decoded. This is not your ordinary city. This is much more than a city.
An intimate portrait of Brussels and its inhabitants followed by interviews with three prominent local thinkers : historian Roel Jacobs, sociologist Fatima Zibouh and philosopher Philippe Van Parijs.
A Belgian journalist who covers international affairs for the news weekly Le Vif-L'Express, François Janne d'Othée has always kept Brussels as his home base. He knows the city inside out, from its most glamorous sites to its grittier - but no less colourful corners.
