Anti-urbanism in Flanders: the political and social consequences of a spatial class struggle strategy

Class struggle resulted in a anti-urban feeling in Flanders. The industrial revolution first developed in Wallonia and industrialisation came much later in Flanders. The bourgeoisie and the Church could anticipate rising secularisation and socialism in Flanders by keeping the workers away from the cities through specific housing and mobility policies. This explains the traditional Christian political hegemony in Flanders, with socialist and liberal cracks mainly in the cities. In the second part of the paper the geography of the last parliamentary elections is considered. In the light of anti-... Mehr ...