page_title: Brusselization
section_title: The 1990s: From Brusselization to façadism
hierarchical_section_title: Brusselization / Brussels / The 1990s: From Brusselization to façadism
caption_attribution_description: An example of Brusselisation in the centre of Bucharest
context_page_description: In urban planning, Brusselization or Brusselisation is "the indiscriminate and careless introduction of modern high-rise buildings into gentrified neighbourhoods" and has become a byword for "haphazard urban development and redevelopment".
  The notion applies to anywhere whose development follows the pattern of the uncontrolled development of Brussels in the 1960s and 1970s, that resulted from a lack of zoning regulations and the city authorities' laissez-faire approach to city planning.
context_section_description: In the early 1990s laws were introduced restricting the demolition of buildings that were deemed to have architectural or historical significance; and in 1999 the city authorities' urban development plan explicitly declared high-rise buildings to be architecturally incompatible with the existing aesthetics of the city centre. This led to the rise of what was termed façadisme — the destruction of the whole interior of a historic building while preserving its historic façade.
  These laws were the Town Planning Act 1991, which gave local authorities the powers to refuse demolition requests on the grounds of historical, aesthetic, or cultural significance, and to designate architectural heritage zones; and the Heritage Conservation Act of 1993, which gave the government of the Brussels Capital Region the power to designate buildings to be protected for historic reasons. However, this system had its deficiencies. Whilst the Capital Region government could designate historic buildings, it was the nineteen municipal authorities within it that were responsible for demolition permits. Not until the introduction of a permis unique system was this internecine conflict resolved.
caption: Brusselization in contemporary Bucharest.[citation needed]
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