THE BELGIAN DREAM

[isaidso]

Do Belgians not want large front lawns or are lots generally too small to allow it?

[NoveProspekt]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Do Belgians not want large front lawns or are lots generally too small to allow it?

Front lawns are small/rare. They're almost always at the back of the house. Safer for the kids, too. But it also depends on the area.. rural suburb or right outside a city, etc.

[Jonesy55]

I've never really seen the point of large front lawns. I'd rather just a small area dividing house from street and shift the extra space to the rear where it will probably get used more.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

I've never really seen the point of large front lawns. I'd rather just a small area dividing house from street and shift the extra space to the rear where it will probably get used more.

It's mainly for aesthetics, to give people a feeling of living in a park, and so that one doesn't live right next to the road. I suppose lot sizes are small in Europe, so it's not possible to have a big green area on all 4 sides.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by isaidso

It's mainly for aesthetics, to give people a feeling of living in a park, and so that one doesn't live right next to the road. I suppose lot sizes are small in Europe, so it's not possible to have a big green area on all 4 sides.

It depends where you are really, in rural or village settings and many suburbs you often have quite large front lawns here, though on planned suburban developments the sides are usually close to the next property even if the front lawn is quite big. But to me they just seem like an extra chore to mow and maintain for no benefit, people rarely seem to use them for anything, they tend to sit out, play and eat etc at the rear of the house.

Personally I don't mind the front door being close to the sidewalk at all, it makes it easier to bump into people and interact socially with neighbours and people walking past. That's on a fairly quiet residential street of course, being close to the street like that on a busy arterial road with constant traffic wouldn't be pleasant.

The more central and closer to facilities you are of course the smaller plot sizes for a given price tend to be. I'm on a very tight plot with only around 150cm from front door to pavement and a small 12mx5m rear garden, but very easily walkable to shops, restaurants, theatres, rail station etc. If I wanted to move a little bit further out then for a similar price (a bit cheaper in fact) I could have a generic boxy house with lawns on three sides like this one.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-23661267.html

You pay your money you take your choice I guess!

[NoveProspekt]

One more.. From Kiewiet to Kuringen Heide, right outside of Hasselt.

And look, some of those houses even have front lawns :p



I'll upload some more tomorrow.

Keep in mind that Limburg is the poorest Flemish province and more rural than most. You won't find lots of large & fancy architecture here. Hasselt, the capital and largest city of Limburg, only has around 75,000 souls. We're basically hicks.

@ 1:11 the field to my left is where Pukkelpop is held. One of Belgium's (and Europe's) largest music festivals.

[NoveProspekt]

1 more Kiewiet, starting at Pukkelpop:

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

You pay your money you take your choice I guess!

That pretty much sums it up. I find most people in suburbia here live in complete isolation from other people and many want it like that. The only time they see other people is at work or the mall.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

You pay your money you take your choice I guess!

That pretty much sums it up. I find most people in suburbia here live in complete isolation from other people and many want it like that. The only time they see other people is at work or the mall. They certainly never walk to the store; it's a lifewstyle that's 100% car dependent.

Some of the newer suburbs make an attempt to encourage pedestrian activity with smaller plots and clusters of shops close by, but I'm not sure if they're successful as I've never seen one in person.

[BE0GRAD]

Originally Posted by isaidso

That pretty much sums it up. I find most people in suburbia here live in complete isolation from other people and many want it like that. The only time they see other people is at work or the mall. They certainly never walk to the store; it's a lifewstyle that's 100% car dependent.

Some of the newer suburbs make an attempt to encourage pedestrian activity with smaller plots and clusters of shops close by, but I'm not sure if they're successful as I've never seen one in person.

In my neighborhood (largest illegal settlement in Europe, some claim ) ,car activity is very much discouraged by narrow roads and lack of parking space so the only option is going on foot or PT.

[Jonesy55]

Why illegal?

[BE0GRAD]

Built without permit.

[NoveProspekt]

From (a bit of Kuringen to) Stevoort to the outskirts of Hasselt



First you see some lower income housing, then some rural houses (and a bit of boring landscape.. for nice scenery with rolling hills and little castles I have to go Haspengouw in the south of Limburg), and from 4:46 to 5:30 is mostly social housing. After that I'm entering Stevoort town centre and then on to the outskirts of Hasselt, ending at the outer ring road.

[joshsam]

Originally Posted by NoveProspekt

1 more Kiewiet, starting at Pukkelpop:

Great video's shows a lot more than pics

[alexandru.mircea]

Nice. Debatable planning, but plenty of delightful suburban architecture. Looks a lot like the Romanian dream, only well done and with much, much better architecture (the Romanian dream is more of a nightmare, heh). Anyway, whenever you run out of land, you can come to France - plenty of land here.

[joshsam]

Originally Posted by alexandru.mircea

Nice. Debatable planning, but plenty of delightful suburban architecture. Looks a lot like the Romanian dream, only well done and with much, much better architecture (the Romanian dream is more of a nightmare, heh). Anyway, whenever you run out of land, you can come to France - plenty of land here.

It's the worst planning in Western Europe by far, and the only reason why Belgians still can afford to build these type of houses... Otherwise it would have been much more like The Netherlands considdering our population density.

[joshsam]

Driving in the burbs

[Godius]

Originally Posted by NoveProspekt

One more.. From Kiewiet to Kuringen Heide, right outside of Hasselt.

And look, some of those houses even have front lawns :p



I'll upload some more tomorrow.

Keep in mind that Limburg is the poorest Flemish province and more rural than most. You won't find lots of large & fancy architecture here. Hasselt, the capital and largest city of Limburg, only has around 75,000 souls. We're basically hicks.

@ 1:11 the field to my left is where Pukkelpop is held. One of Belgium's (and Europe's) largest music festivals.

Total chaos!!!!

[NoveProspekt]

Originally Posted by Godius

Total chaos!!!!

hoezo?

[NoveProspekt]

crappy camera, dirty windshield & low sun, so at times the image quality gets really bad..