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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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…

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

We remember our loved ones with deep respect: pictures on a cupboard, in stories, sometimes even with an urn in our homes. But it is still so very hard to come to terms with death.

Up to 200,000 vehicles a day travel on the Ring around Brussels. Many of the places the route runs through were mainly fields before it was completed, back in 1978.

One huge field of maize occupied a plot of land in Huttestraat, Pepingen, before the arrival of the two pioneering spirits, Tijs Boelens and Sander Van Haver, with the organic market gardening company de Groentelaar.

In Nieuwenhove (East Flanders) an asphalt road runs through the territory, as an easy connection between two streets with fields on either side. An ideal road for walkers or cyclists…

As this is the first time they meet each other, Christine Mussche and Guillaume Van der Stighelen are able to speak without any embarrassment. About life’s satisfactions and disappointments. And their ways of dealing with these phenomena.

Music was my first love. And it will be my last. These words more or less sum up our conversation with Eddy Frans and Jef Neve. Two men with completely different backgrounds but with the same fierce passion for music and life.

After giving the matter much thought, the Machelenbased Athlon Car Lease company opted in 2013 for a complete eco-friendly site design rather than a smallscale green refurbishment. This made the company one of the pioneers in the cause of creating more greenery around company buildings.

The secondary school place shortage is set to be no less than 8.000 by 2024-2025 in the greater Flemish Rand area, according to the Capacity Data Monitor's 2018 report on the educational situation in the region.

‘Rather than just telling your own story, it’s just as important to look at other people’s backgrounds so as to be able to gain another perspective. People need to be…

Braeckman: ‘We come from very different worlds and yet we share the same fascination for the brain and people. I am particularly interested in the question of why individuals, despite…