Back in the 20s of last century, many big European cities needed social housing to support the people less well off. This was also the case for Brussels. Here the city planners and authorities wanted to get the people out of the cramped city center so they built new cities at the periphery of the city, calling them 'Garden Cities'.
Two such Garden Cities in Brussels (now no longer at the outskirts of town!) are Le Logis and Floréal. I went for a walk in Floréal this weekend and was amazed how beautiful the architecture was - architecture not normally associated with social project housing.
These neighbourhoods are now listed areas and most buildings still serve as social housing. All buildings follow the same construction codes, so for example here you will see all window frames, doors and post boxes painted yellow; all front gardens are planted the same way.
