The Kempen, Brabant Suburbia

Nowhere else in the Netherlands has dispersed urbanization found such a fertile breeding ground. It is the constellation of villages that largely determines the character of Brabant. As a result, it is hardly possible to speak of a separation between city and countryside. Brabant has become a global suburbia. There is no real city, but there are also no real villages anymore. The suburban condition, which floods the entire provincial territory and currently seems to be the dominant form of living, hardly allows for a dichotomous division of city and countryside.

Suburbanization was stimulated by the growing mobility of the population. This allowed people to work in the city and live outside it. The concept of commuters is therefore closely linked to suburbanization. Because primarily middle and higher incomes moved out of the city, the average income level of the city declined. Reurbanization in the 1980s and beyond has partly put a stop to this process.

Pieter Erauw