Building (the capital of) Europe as a heterotopy

• Main Author: Eric Corijn
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) 2011-09-01
• Series: Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals
• Subjects: Europe; Brussels; urbanity; urban imaginaries
• Online Access: http://www.cidob.org/en/publicaciones/articulos/revista_cidob_d_afers_internacionals/construyendo_la_capital_de_europa_como_una_heterotopia2

The European unification project requires imagination to achieve the support of the population. Its role should be that of a capital city, not only the location for its institutions, but also as the place for developing arts, culture and innovation related to the project. To become such a capital of Europe would be a good urban project for Brussels. But to achieve that, a critical assessment is needed of the effects of the unification process with very strong centre-periphery dialectics. In that process the Mediterranean way of life is fading away, though it represents a vital part of “Europeanness”. Constructing a postnational European imaginary and investing that in the project of a capital city needs a decentered identity in a heterotopian space.