The Europeanization of Brussels and the urbanization of 'Europe' - Hybridizing the city. Empowerment and disempowerment in the EU district

Regeneration practices in the EU district in Brussels clearly reveal how a mismatch has grown between Brussels' economic and cultural globalization an d its political-institutional parochialization. Brussels' global mission is being inserted into well-tested local formats of urban governance that hav e existed throughout the postwar period. Local powerbrokers continue to for m remarkable economic growth coalitions that are successfully manoeuvring t hrough obstacles that would prevent them from cashing in on Brussels' inter nationalized economy through property development. Any government strategy that would deal with the rapid internationalization of Brussels and the EU district - socially, economically, culturally or politically - is simply ab sent. Important segments of Brussels' social fabric are excluded from parti cipation in public political and cultural life. Meanwhile, the success of e xtreme right-wing parties which are fiercely contesting the contesting the multiculturalization or Brussels has risen to alarming levels, while differ ent cultural groups in Brussels are de facto generating hybridized cultural expressions which might form the base of a new modus vivendi of community, citizenship, economy and politics.