This report was produced by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work and Budget of the OECD Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC). The work was jointly conducted by the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division and the Regional Development and Multi-Level Governance Division in the CFE.
The report was drafted by a team composed of Camille Viros (Chapter 1) and Oscar Huerta Melchor (Chapter 2) under the supervision of Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division, and Miquel Vidal Bover with guidance from Isabelle Chatry (Chapters 3 and 4) under the supervision of Dorothée Allain-Dupré, Head of the Regional Development and Multi-Level Governance Division. The work benefitted from comments and insights from Nadim Ahmad, Soo-Jin Kim, Kristine Langenbucher, Lucas Leblanc and Lars Ludolph in the CFE. Rene Hohmann co-ordinated part of the project. Nicolas Gonne and Caroline Klein in the OECD Economics Department provided helpful suggestions.
The report was produced at the request of the government of the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium), notably the Secretary of State responsible for Urban Planning and Heritage, European and International Relations, External Trade, Firefighting and Emergency Medical Assistance.
The OECD Secretariat expresses its gratitude to stakeholders in the Brussels-Capital Region. Special thanks are due to members of Brussels International, notably Frederik Lamberty and Michelle Steurs, who co-ordinated the overall project and facilitated exchanges with stakeholders in the region. Thanks also go to Professors Eric Corijn, Dave Sinardet and Emilie Van Haute, who provided input and comments during fact-finding missions in the region. Representatives and stakeholders from a range of institutions and organisations were consulted over the course of the project. The OECD Secretariat would like to thank the representatives from different organisations who provided input and attended in-person and virtual meetings. These include Actiris, Brulocalis, Brussels Environment, Brussels Finances and Budget (BFB), Brussels Housing, the Brussels Housing Corporation (SLRB), the Brussels Institute for Statistics and Analysis (BISA), Brussels Local Authorities (BPL/BPB), Brussels Mobility, Brussels Taxation (BF), Brussels Economy and Employment (BEE), Brussels Synergy, hub.brussels, Innoviris, Paradigm, perspective.brussels, STIB/MIVB, urban.brussels, view.brussels, representatives of Immobelgroup and AG Real Estate, the National Bank of Belgium and members of the cabinet of the ministers and secretaries of state of the Brussels-Capital Region. Insights from Arnaud Dessoy at Belfius as well as from other team members, including Philippe Brouckaert, Elisabetta Callegari, Anne-Leen Erauw and Bernadette Janssens, are also gratefully acknowledged.
Special thanks go to the two international peer reviewers who joined the fact-finding mission in October 2023 and contributed valuable comparative insights to the report: Jakob Richter (Head of the Office of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, Germany) and Michaela Kauer (Head of the Office of the City of Vienna, Austria, in Brussels, Belgium).
The OECD Secretariat would like to thank the delegates of the OECD Working Party on Urban Policy and the participants of the Expert Group on Multi-Level Governance and Public Investment for Regional Development for reviewing the draft report.
Warm thanks are due to Pilar Philip, who led the process of preparing the manuscript for publication. Eleonore Morena edited and formatted the report.