Founder Op-Ed: Super cities as solution to government fragmentation

Welcome to Belgium. We have six governments, six parliaments, and an impossible number of levels of governance. Our capital consists of 19 municipalities, six police zones, and more than 1,000 politicians. We have fragmented our space and governance to such a degree that, according to Eurostat, only 1% of Flanders is still countryside, and 900 pages are needed to untangle federal competencies. Welcome to Belgium, where everyone is in charge, but no one has the overview.

Can it not be simpler? On what basis can a country like Belgium be organized to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow? The answer, we believe, lies in city-regions. Successful cities across Europe are applying the concept of city-regions, and most Belgian political parties are even in favor of it. But what exactly is a city-region?

What is a city-region?

A city-region is an autonomous scale of governance consisting of a central city and its surrounding area — a territory in which the majority of our daily activities and movements take place. Think commuting, the sports club, or shopping. Since time immemorial, across all countries and cultures, people have traveled roughly one and a half hours per day. The crossroads of these movements are what we began calling cities. These emerged roughly 25 kilometers apart, reflecting the distance a medieval merchant could cover in a day. They are therefore our beacons of culture, economy, and mobility, inextricably linked to their surrounding region. In this way, all of Belgium can be divided into a series of city-regions.

Why this scale

But why would we do that? Because it is the scale that is close enough to the citizen, while also having sufficient governing capacity and expertise to tackle challenges around mobility, economy, and housing. This is demonstrated by the success of Freiburg, which invested early in a city-centered public transport network as the backbone for residential development in surrounding municipalities. The result: virtually car-free neighborhoods like Vauban, a stronger local economy, and a nearly 50% reduction in CO2 emissions.

Or take the Swiss cantons. These are roughly the same size as our city-regions, and hold all the competencies needed to respond to regional opportunities and challenges. It is no surprise that three Swiss cities rank in the global top 10 for quality of life, and that Switzerland was the world's most competitive economy last year.

Light versions in Belgium

In Belgium too, a number of light versions of city-regions have emerged over the past 30 years through mergers or intermunicipal bodies. The impetus usually comes from mobility or energy distribution challenges, which then expand to include housing and spatial planning. Think of the Intercommunale Leiedal in Kortrijk, the Regional Express Network in Brussels, or the City-Region of Turnhout. The latter, through broadly supported local projects and hands-on governance, stays close to its residents. The city-region, for instance, combats the social isolation of the elderly by determining the placement of care homes at a regional level, and encourages local commerce by blocking new supermarkets.

What comes next

In short, city-regions are the workable answer to Belgium's ungovernability. But what comes next? Does this mean the regions, communities, and provinces must be overhauled? Eventually, yes — but that is a gradual process. City-regions could take the place of provinces, retaining part of the provincial administrative infrastructure already located in the central cities. Regional competencies would subsequently be transferred until we are left with just three levels of governance: national, city-regional, and municipal. Each with responsibilities tailored to their challenges.

Hopefully, Belgium in 2050 will no longer be the country of 2019. But a country where our cities have sufficient tools to bring their housing crisis under control, as Vienna did through social housing. Where, as in the Netherlands, one high-performing public transport network forms the backbone for spatial growth. Where pragmatic, genuinely democratic short-chain governance exists as in the Swiss cantons. Where we have attractive city centers like Copenhagen or Zurich. And above all, where we do more with less by working together at the right scale.