More and more Flemings and inhabitants of the Brussels region of foreign heritage are heading for the suburbs and municipalities bordering big conurbations.
The latest edition of the ‘Atlas Superdiversity Flanders’ that has been mapping out Flemish diversity since 1990 shows that Flanders and Brussels are becoming “super diverse”. In 2020 one in four inhabitants of the Flemish region was of foreign heritage. Thirty years ago the figure was 6.5%. Flanders boasts inhabitants of 180 different nationalities.
But superdiversity isn’t equally spread. People of foreign heritage will first and foremost head for areas where other people of foreign heritage have made their home e.g. the Limburg colliery area and the big cities, Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels. Border migration is also recorded along the Dutch border.
In recent years researchers have noticed a new move: people spreading out to the suburbs and more outlying areas in the Dender region e.g. the towns of Ninove and Geraardsbergen and towns like Boom. Also in the Limburg colliery zone people are moving out to outlying areas.
The development can most clearly be noticed in Brussels. People of foreign heritage are fleeing the downtown. “People of European heritage are heading for eastern municipalities bordering the Brussels region” says researcher Dirk Geldof. “They are often linked to European or international bodies. People of non-European heritage are making for the Dender region and municipalities in the west bordering Brussels.
The evolution is fuelled by several factors. “Some people of foreign heritage are climbing the social ladder and can afford a better home. For others Brussels has become too expensive getting them to look for a cheaper and often poorer quality accommodation in the Dender region” says Geldof.
“We notice that in areas that are more diverse homes are smaller and older. There are more terrace houses too.”
Neighbourhoods with great diversity are also less leafy: “There are fewer private gardens or parks. This is an issue because there are more families with children. They are ending up in the least leafy areas of our society” says Geldof.
The atlas shows that newcomers are posing a challenge for local authorities. There are local concerns that people of foreign heritage moving in will attract more people with the same background, but the atlas shows the dynamics originate largely of their own accord.
The makers of the atlas call for the available space to be redistributed to take account of new needs, especially meeting centres: “New residents have new spacial and social needs. These range from sport and play facilities to meeting areas and new types of shops as well as extra capacity for schools and prayer areas” notes the researcher.
The Atlas Superdiversity Flanders shows the scale and spread of migration over the past 30 years and is produced by university of applied sciences Odisee and Leuven University at the request of the Flemish government.