society

01 Jun '17

Special status municipalities: All smoke and mirrors
door Luc Vanheerentals

Relations seem to be changing for the better in some municipalities with language facili-ties, thanks to the arrival of a younger generation of French-speaking politicians. However, appearances are often deceptive.
01 May '17

Jan De Craen: ‘Let the people have their say’
door Karla Goetvinck

In the coming months we will be giving people who live in Rand the opportunity to ex-press their opinions. People from different backgrounds, in the hope of being able to present a broad and varied picture of how the region will be within 10 years.
01 Apr '17

The $64,000 Question
door Karla Goetvinck

What does fate have in store for the Rand? What sort of region do we want? As part of the Visionary series of articles, RandKrant will be talking to a number of people over the next few months to find out their ideas about the future of the Rand.
01 Feb '17

Health picture in the Rand
door Bart Claes

In Drogenbos nearly twice as many people die of heart and vascular diseases as in Kraainem. Where you live in the Rand and your position in the social and economic pecking order have a huge impact on your health.
01 Dec '16

Affordable housing projects
door Luc Vanheerentals

Mindful that living in the Rand is an expensive business, the Flemish Authorities decided in 1992 to set up Vlabinvest, an investment fund tasked with trying to offer affordable housing.…
01 Oct '16

Turning offices into homes
door Tina Deneyer

More than 30% ofoffice buildings in a radius of 12 km around Brussels is empty. That works out at nearly half a million square meters ofoffice space. The situation is particularly dire in Zaventem, where 75% of all Rand offices are established. The vacancy rate there is about 40%.
01 Jun '16

To urbanise or not to urbanise?
door Karla Goetvinck

The choice is between an intense development of the area to the north of Brussels or pressing on with the green belt policy of the last 50 years. The first option is being plumped for in a mission statement recently issued by Ruimte Vlaanderen (Spatial Planning Department Flanders).
01 Jun '16

Ring round expansion
door Luc Vanheerentals

Schemes to boost the capacity of the Brussels ring road have been floated since the 1990s but the Flemish Mobility Minister Ben Weyts (N-VA) is now committed to getting the work started in 2019. The programme may take 10 years to complete.
01 May '16

Level of Dutch language proficiency
door Joris Herpol

The number of Dutch-speaking children attending schools in the Flemish Rand is falling in both the primary and secondary education systems. The level of Dutch is also on the decline.
01 Apr '16

Climate-friendliness
door Luc Vanheerentals

Flemish Brabant is set to have a net zero carbon footprint by 2040, according to the provincial authority, citing a study to confirm the plan's technical and social feasibility. Towards this end, the municipal authorities are being called upon to achieve a 20% cut in their CO2 emissions by 2020.
01 Feb '16

Commotion over football stadium
door Luc Vanheerentals

The Ghelamco construction company's plans to build a new national football stadium on what is now the Parking C of the Heizel complex in Strombeek-Bever has caused quite a stir…
01 Feb '16

Number of school places quantified
door Patrick Gijssels

A school infrastructure capacity monitor has been developed by researchers at KU Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) and the VUB (Free University of Brussels). This instrument is designed to evaluate the primary…
25 Nov '15

Keeping greenhouses in good repair
door RK

Solheide hilltop in Overijse is a haven of peace and quiet. Everything revolves around grape production there. Fourteen of the 18 greenhouses on the site enjoy protected status.…
25 Nov '15

The truth is a lie
door RK

People cycling along the Leuven-Brussels high-speed train line sometimes see him. A thin, grey-pigtailed man on a racing bike, a retro bike or a self-constructed, open reclining bicycle.…
01 Oct '15

‘Investing in renewal and growth’
door Bart Claes

A spectacular level of growth equal to 8.6% during the first seven months of this year is reported by Brussels Airport. The Zaventem-based hub catered for 2.5 million passengers from…
01 Jun '15

‘Saving as many lives as possible’
door Maarten Croes

A treatment for Parkinson's disease has led to a breakthrough in cancer research. A discovery by Pierre Sonveaux from Sterrebeek attracted the attention of the international press last year.
01 May '15

Social employment's continuing importance
door Gerard Hautekeur

‘The level of unemployment in the Halle-Vilvoorde district is fairly low compared with the rest of Flanders but there is a large group of people who find it impossible or very difficult to gain access to the regular labour market', says Jan Creten, from the Halle-Vilvoorde RESOC.
01 Mar '15

From the drawing board to reality
door Gerard Hautekeur

A number of cooperatives from the region have come under the spotlight in previous issues. An increasing number of people are keen to invest in cooperative entities, where the public good is the prime concern rather than profits.
01 Mar '15

‘Constantly reinventing ourselves’
door Joris Herpol

Ring-TV was launched 20 years ago, an anniversary that is definitely worth celebrating, if only in a small way, because producing regional television programmes in our diverse region is no mean feat. Innovation is paramount: new programmes, sets, techniques and ways to keep the viewers tuning in.
01 Nov '14

Municipal cutbacks keenly felt
door Bart Claes

Fewer staff, less investment, extra taxes. The municipal authorities in the Flemish Rand are having to take steps to keep their finances on an even keel. Under the so-called policy and management cycle, the municipalities are required to establish a multiannual planning perspective for the period up
18 Sep '14

A woman in the news
door RK

She is a face familiar to many people owing to the newscast on the Eén television channel and the news report magazine Login on the Canvas channel: 24-year-old Danira Boukhriss Terkessidis from Vilvoorde is one of the youngest faces working for the Flemish radio and television broadcaster, the VRT.
17 Sep '14

‘My new homeland’
door RK

When she came to Belgium with her husband three years ago the move signalled the start of an exciting story for Jutta Schubert. A story of learning to let go and accepting the new. Wezembeek-Oppem is a place where she and her husband have increasingly felt at home over the past few years.
01 Sep '14

Wind in the sails
door Gerard Hautekeur

Ecopower is the focus this month of our Strength of cooperatives series. This cooperative society is set to build four wind turbines in Asse this coming autumn, with the overall capacity to generate environmentally sound electricity to cater for the power requirements of 6.000 households.
20 May '14

Strength of cooperatives
door RK

Cooperative ventures employ over 100 million people, creating more jobs than all the multinationals together. Successful examples can found in this country's agricultural, energy, retail and insurance sectors but Barrez and Jacobs are keen to stress just how many opportunities are still available.
23 Apr '14

Radical choices
door RK

One option is to follow the one you love back to Belgium, where you can sit in your corner full of romantic feelings but wondering what on earth to do with yourself. Or you can take a cue from Verónica Demaría...
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