Programmaboekje : Wonen in welvaart - deSingel

The trend in the sixties was to move out of the city. Young families,
that became more and more mobile, were looking for green and
open spaces. The distance between home and work increased.
Suburbs became the expression of the welfare state. At the same
time the centre of towns were neglected. The sixties became the
era of massive slum removals in the big city centres. In Brussels,
historic quarters had to make room for large building projects
such as the Berlaymont building, the Zuidertoren, the WTC and
modernistic blocks. In the private sector the appartment building
became an attractive investment. The typical Amelincx appartment
blocks appeared in almost every city.
The connection between the welfare state and housing was visible
in most European countries. What makes the case for Flanders
special is the specifi c combination of the three main factors of the
welfare state: the government, the social structures and the free
market.
The role of private initiative (families and the free market) and the
segragated social structures is specifi c for Belgium and even more
for Flanders.
Even though the individual private home was the cornerstone of
the welfare state, experiments with serial production, modernistic
high-rise buildings and satellite towns were also a part of postwar
housing. These models were especially popular in the public
sector and among architects and urban developers. Yet large-scale
building projects or serial production of houses were an exception
rather than the rule. The history of big social housing projects
was marked by delays, non-realisation of collective facilities and
fi nancial problems. These also form part of the fi fties’ and the
sixties’ heritage.
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