Activity 3: Different itineraries, different practices in the city
There's a bit of Brussels for everyone!
Activity 3: Different itineraries, different practices in the city
The city is a place where a variety of users (inhabitants, workers, tourists, etc.) meet. Everyone has his or her own use of the Brussels space, which depends on many factors. Discover some of them by following the itineraries of Alexandra, Louise and Marianne.
As you can see, there are many different types of mobility in Brussels. Each user takes a route that is specific to them according to their needs (i.e. work, leisure, tourism).
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Alexandra lives in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean/Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, which is located in the north-west side of the city, in a rather densely populated area. For her work, she goes to Uccle/Ukkel near Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos in the south-east side of Brussels, at the start of the green belt. She first passes through several neighbourhoods without seeing them because she is on the metro, which was built in a very dense city centre where, as a result, it was opted to bury part of the public transport under the ground. |
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Louise lives in Overijse, which is in the Flemish Region outside the administrative boundaries of the Brussels-Capital Region, and works in Watermael-Boitsfort/Watermaal-Bosvoorde. In the morning, she therefore departs from the green belt, which is also an area where taking your car to work is common. She sometimes goes to the Brussels Palace of Justice in the city centre, but the public transport system is more efficient here and allows her to avoid the horrors of traffic jams. After picking up her car at the office, she then goes to Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos in the south-east of the region to exercise. Louise therefore travels both within the Brussels-Capital Region and on the periphery (in Walloon Brabant and Flemish Brabant). However, the areas which this relatively well-paid lawyer visits are mainly situated in the south-east of the region. |
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Marianne is a tourist and her hotel is located in the centre of Brussels, close to Grand Place. Her itinerary focuses solely on the centre of Brussels, the heart of the Pentagon, where the majority of tourist attractions are concentrated. |
These three itineraries show you that the way you get around in Brussels and the places you visit are strongly linked to the type of use you make of the city, but are also linked to social differences.
You probably noticed that we chose the urban itineraries of three women, and it is no coincidence. For a long time, Brussels has been analysed by men and for men. The recent development of more gender-sensitive approaches has revealed that the use of the city is also strongly linked to gender. For example, studies have shown the existence of real inequalities between men and women in terms of mobility. If you are a woman, you probably don't move around the city in the same way as a man does. A study published in 2015 in the Brussels Studies journal revealed that this imbalance was connected to, among other things, a difference in the perception of the feeling of insecurity.
If you are used to moving around in Brussels, take a few seconds to mentally imagine the itineraries you follow on a daily basis or even those you rarely take. You will quickly realise that you only frequent a small part of the urban space, with as result that your perception of Brussels is mainly based on the places you normally visit.
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