THE BELGIAN DREAM

[joshsam]

The Belgian dream is just like the Armerican one. Living in a nice, freestanding home with a garden. Dispite all the effort of cities to attract people to the city center, people still want to build a house in the suburbs.

I found some pleasing examples of the Belgian dream on Bingmaps.

[pesto]

Interesting. Some of the ones with red roofs remind me of Southern California (minus the swimming pools). Of course, they are not Spanish style but that's hard to see from the air.

The darker roofs look more East Coast.

[joshsam]

older houses are ofthen with red roof and newer with dark roofs. But it's no guarantee because a lot of new houses are also build with red rooftiles...

Some of them are probably spanish style but most of the red tile houses are in a style that's typical Belgian.

[joshsam]

"Belgians think small, but they are masters at it. The Belgian Dream consists of earning enough to own a free-standing house with a garden, not bought from a previous owner, but preferably built exactly according to personal wishes [4]. This house should also not be further away than 10 kilometers from where your parents live. In contrast to the well-known American Dream, this Dream can be attained by very many people before their 40th birthday. In this process, building regulations are only meant to be ignored. As a matter of fact, all Belgians routinely break the law, if they can do so without harming anyone personally: "arranging things" is their speciality. More visibly, not even the most cautious and law-abiding Belgian pedestrian will wait for a stop-sign if no cars happen to be coming past, as anyone can see that this is simply stupid. "


From : http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/8R94.html

[SimsPlanet2]

Looks great! Green areas.

[joshsam]

delete

[Slartibartfas]

Well, that dream seems to be pretty similar to the general idea of what Austrians think a successful live should include. The own built house is a fix starter. I guess, I simply don't feel that ambition at all yet. Maybe I never will.

In my opinion its good that the decline of the cities was reversed lately and they start growing again, not just their suburbs. But thats another story.

[joshsam]

My parents are living it for the moment. We first lived in a rowhome in the city center. Today we live in an suburban village not far from that very same city...

[Chrissib]

joshsam, do you know what the share of Belgians is that live in single-family-houses? I just started to wonder how high this percentage would be in different parts of the world. In Germany it's roughly 35%

[Tchek]

The Belgian dream is indeed very similar to the American dream. To me, it is a petit-bourgeois ideal.

I really dislike it actually... living in a semi-urban environment is my nightmare. Basically it has neither the social and cultural atmsophere of the city, nor the nature of the countryside, add to this the sense of comformity and the close-mindedness of the people living is such place and you got the cocktail.

Not my ideal at all.

[.for.ce.br]

Houses are so difficult to cleaning up, apartments are much more practical...

The Brazilian dream, at least in the biggest cities, is living in a nice apartment at the 27th floor, preferably at the beachfront (if it's a coastal city)...

[joshsam]

Originally Posted by Chrissib

joshsam, do you know what the share of Belgians is that live in single-family-houses? I just started to wonder how high this percentage would be in different parts of the world. In Germany it's roughly 35%

I tried to find something on the internet but I could'nt find anything. I bet there are more single famely houses in Belgium in percentage than in Germany. But Germany has probably, in percentage, more freestanding single-family-homes.

A lot of single-family-homes in Belgium are rowhouses. Untill the 60ties large zones of rowhousing grew nearby bigger cities housing the middle class of Belgium. From street level they give a very urban feeling with little green in the streets, but every house has it's own (small) garden. Afther the 60ties people became wealtier and started to leave the city for countryside...

This is what i'm talking about:
Tipical Belgian 60ties development.

[joshsam]

Originally Posted by .for.ce.br

Houses are so difficult to cleaning up, apartments are much more practical...

The Brazilian dream, at least in the biggest cities, is living in a nice apartment at the 27th floor, preferably at the beachfront (if it's a coastal city)...

I'm sorry to say but Brazil cities have a lot of single family rowhomes...

[.for.ce.br]

Originally Posted by joshsam

I'm sorry to say but Brazil cities have a lot of single family rowhomes...

I know it.

I'm just saying the dream of the average Brazilian (at least in the biggest cities) is a nice apartment of 180 sq. mts. in one of the floors above the 20th in a residential condo... That's where most people go live when they earn enough money.

[Jonesy55]

I found these stats on the eurostat website, Belgium has far more detached housing than Germany but not as much as Scandinavia or the Balkans. Here in the UK we are more like Belgium, not many apartments but lots of our houses are rowhomes or semi-detached.



Here though it is not so common to build your own home, large property development companies tend to buy up all the farmland surrounding towns and cities so when it comes to be developed they build the houses in a planned block and then sell them.

There are regional variations though, I read somewhere that 50% of the detached homes built in Wales are self-built compared to only 10-15% in the whole of the UK.

There are more good stats on European housing on the eurostat website.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/sta...ing_statistics

[FabricioBSB]

Originally Posted by .for.ce.br

Houses are so difficult to cleaning up, apartments are much more practical...

The Brazilian dream, at least in the biggest cities, is living in a nice apartment at the 27th floor, preferably at the beachfront (if it's a coastal city)...

The brazilian middle class live in apartaments not because they dream about living in an apartament, but if people want to live in the best or most central residential areas of the cities, where they can't afford a house, their option is living in an appartament. And still lots of people from all classes live in houses in Brazilian larger cities.

[Tomb Raider]

Great, thanks for sharing

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by .for.ce.br

I know it.

I'm just saying the dream of the average Brazilian (at least in the biggest cities) is a nice apartment of 180 sq. mts. in one of the floors above the 20th in a residential condo... That's where most people go live when they earn enough money.

It's funny how societies can be so different, in the minds of most British people living on the 20th floor would probably be associated with the worst social housing projects, drugs, inner-city violence etc.

There are exceptions of course with desirable city apartments for young, single professionals but 95% of families with children would never choose an apartment if they had the money; private outdoor space and a separate entrance are much more sought after.

[Luli Pop]

Originally Posted by FabricioBSB

The brazilian middle class live in apartaments not because they dream about living in an apartament, but if people want to live in the best or most central residential areas of the cities, where they can't afford a house, their option is living in an appartament. And still lots of people from all classes live in houses in Brazilian larger cities.

they prefer appartements because it's safer.

[.for.ce.br]

Originally Posted by FabricioBSB

The brazilian middle class live in apartaments not because they dream about living in an apartament, but if people want to live in the best or most central residential areas of the cities, where they can't afford a house, their option is living in an appartament. And still lots of people from all classes live in houses in Brazilian larger cities.

It depends on the city, it depends on the person... I know people here in Fortaleza who can afford a big house in a rich suburb, but prefer to live in an apartment of 300 or 400 sq. mts. in a luxury condo at Beira-Mar avenue with open view to the ocean...

Personally, I live in an apartment (a small one), and I prefer it. I don't like the sensation that people walking in the street can hear what I'm talking inside my home... From the 4th floor and above, only flying people can hear what I'm talking, from outside the window, and flying people doesn't exist!