society

01 Jun '24

Forging cross-border ties
door Joris Herpol

A significant number of municipalities in the Rand maintain twinning or sister city relationships with counterparts abroad. How do these relationships come about? And more importantly, how do you maintain the bond between cities and municipalities?
01 Jun '24

The art of winning and losing
door Nathalie Dirix

In the realm of elite sports, victory and defeat are two sides of the same coin.
01 May '24

Brussels Airport permit sparks outcry
door Luc Vanheerentals

The open-ended environmental permit Flemish Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) granted to Brussels Airport Company on March 29, driven by cost-cutting measures, has been greeted almost exclusively with critical to negative reactions.
01 Apr '24

‘Cancer is a shared burden’
door Anne Peeters

Het is kanker. Wat nu? is the title of the book written by Tine Maenhout and Silvia Brouwers, as they intimately shared in this experience, offering mutual support along the way. And they wrote the book that they wished they had read when they were in the midst of their periods of illness.
01 Mar '24

A lifelong advocate for a dignified end
door Gerard Hautekeur

‘Belgium has every reason to be proud of its record on this score, as it is the only country in the world where patient rights, palliative care, and euthanasia are enshrined in law,’ says professor Wim Distelmans.
01 Mar '24

Dutch partnership model takes root in Groot-Bijgaarden
door Michaël Bellon

A full-fledged park manager in Groot-Bijgaarden is on a mission to connect businesses in the area. The business and industrial areas of Groot-Bijgaarden can be divided into three zones: Gosset, Maalbeek, and Industrialaan.
01 Feb '24

Life offers us the gift of wisdom
door Nathalie Dirix

Paying attention is tantamount to an act of love, a sentiment strongly shared by journalist Pascal Verbeken and philosopher Emiliano Acosta. In fact, life offers us the gift of wisdom.
01 Dec '23

Future-proofing Vlaams-Brabant
door Luc Vanheerentals

Careful use of space, core consolidation and space for nature and water: these are the guiding principles of the Spatial Policy Plan for Vlaams-Brabant. Rubber-stamped by the Provincial Council in October, after 10 years of preparation, the plan is designed to tackle the many challenges the province will be facing over the next few decades.
01 Nov '23

No man’s land
door Koen Demarsin

A world apart from the capital of Belgium, Petit-Bruxelles is a cluster of farms along a street that bears the name of the hamlet.
01 Oct '23

Paris-bound highway
door Luc Vander Elst

The N6 road runs from Brussels through Halle and Mons all the way to Paris, with over 7 km of this route situated in the Vlaamse Rand.
01 Sep '23

The Long and Winding Road
door Luc Vander Elst

The N2 runs through the most densely populated part of the Flemish Rand, from Brussels to Leuven, Diest and Hasselt and reaches the Dutch border near Maastricht. The roughly 101-kilometre-long road includes a 6.7-kilometre stretch in the Flemish Rand, all of which lies in Zaventem.
01 Sep '23

‘Laughter and tears are intimately connected’
door Nathalie Dirx

You have the freedom to express your thoughts and emotions openly. Frank Focketyn and Jaouad Allloul demonstrate how this form of communication allows people to truly connect with each other.
01 May '23

Living well together
door Liesbeth Bernolet

The need to promote good coexistence is one of the greatest challenges, as municipalities have been increasingly emphasising in recent years.
01 May '23

A national road trip through Tervuren
door Luc Vander Elst

Ten ‘N roads’ lead to Brussels and cross the Vlaamse Rand. The route we’re taking this time goes along the N3, which runs from Brussels and passes through Leuven, Tienen, Sint-Truiden, and Liège before reaching Germany.
01 Mar '23

Splashing the city with colour
door Gerard Hautekeur

Vilvoorde is one of the pioneers of street art in Flanders, boasting over 50 different works by local, national and international artists. They help to add colour to bare, grey areas, while brightening up the streets and squares.
01 Feb '23

Investing in affordable housing
door Gerard Hautekeur

Four out of five 18 to 30-year-old residents from Grimbergen, Kampenhout, Steenokkerzeel and Zemst say they want to continue living in their municipality, according to a survey carried out by the local authorities in question and Woonwinkel Noord 3Wplus housing consultants.
01 Jun '22

Feeling at home in the Rand
door Koen Demarsin

The area is jam-packed with stories. Not only stories of yesteryear, but also stories from the present day. The region is constantly changing and evolving and always struggling to find itself. We are seeking to discover what being the Rand actually means.
01 Apr '22

Measuring language proficiency
door Bart Claes

Nearly one in four pre-primary school children attending school in the Flemish Rand do not know enough Dutch to be able to start their first year of compulsory education.
01 Apr '22

Turning tears into pearls
door Nathalie Dirix

Turning tears into pearls is what Guido Belcanto and Naima Joris manage to achieve with their soulful vocal styles. They offer us comfort and a taste of what the art of living is all about.
01 Feb '22

Cycling boom rolls on
door Jan Haeverans

An extensive network of bicycling highways is gradually taking shape. The four main routes in our region are: the F3 from Leuven, the F20 via Halle, the F209 from Denderleeuw via Opwijk and the F1 connecting Antwerp to Brussels via Mechelen.
01 Nov '21

Not made out of steel
door Nathalie Dirix

Any time a crisis erupts, Ine Van Wymersch and Alain Remue are on hand to help out. No, they are not made out of steel, they are only flesh and blood, experiencing the same feelings of determination and plagued by the same kinds of doubts as you and me.
01 Jun '21

Call for change in road user behaviour
door Wim Troch

If 247 people were to die in a plane crash, it would be breaking news for days on end. Last year, 247 people died and 22.341 were injured in road traffic accidents in Flanders. So many dead and injured seem to be acceptable as an inevitable side-effect of human mobility.
01 Apr '21

Bridging the digital divide
door Michaël Bellon

Ten percent of Belgians have no Internet connection at home, a figure rising to 29% for low-income earners.
01 Dec '20

Low-waste shopping
door Gerard Hautekeur

Ecological and packaging­free shopping is perfectly feasible. Launched two and a half years ago, Fanny Mele’s low­waste shop sells mainly packaging­free organic products from local and Belgian producers. 'I buy…
01 Dec '20

Tackling student disadvantage in the Rand
door Gerard Hautekeur

Alarming is the word observers are using to describe social inequalities in the Flemish Rand’s educational system.
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