Brussels, the knowledge-based region: Urbanism and urban integration of the knowledge-based economy
A new urban reality in Brussels, reflected in its designation as the “knowledge-based region”, has allowed the metropolis to move away from a reliance on traditional industries and the service-based economy associated with Brussels’ international institutional profile. This has in turn favoured the emergence of a new urban structure based on a number of development nodes and axes revealed by the Regional Plan of Sustainable Development (PRDD), propelling new social and economic agents to the fore. New innovative corporations seem to be developing urban spatial dynamics quite distinct from those involving urban centrality. The present paper highlights the gaps between urban planning and the spatial dynamics surrounding enterprises in the innovative sectors and questions the relevance of planning and urbanism and their agents in the urban integration of the knowledge-based economy in the Brussels Capital Region.