The capital of Belgium suffers from 2 major problems: (1) heavy centralization in & around Brussels; (2) duality of language. Brussels contains 15% of the pop & 25% of the employment possibilities in the country. This diff explains the great immigration to the capital. The subUr area already covers 3 times the surface of the official agglomeration. It is still growing, due to the growing administration & tertiary possibilities of employment in the capital. There is also an important movement from the center to the suburbs. A soc selection which is due to building site speculation arises; only the wellto-do can afford the expensive building sites & house rents in the suburbs. The soc integration of the new districts is obstructed by: (1) insufficient town & country planning, (2) uninformed immigration, & (3) changes whereby the local authorities cannot always effectuate satisfying adaptations. The factor which most obstructs soc integration is the duality of language which includes a soc struggle. Brussels, originally a Flemish town, is now a town where French is predominant. This transition may be explained sociol'ly; the central pol'al & financial powers were French-speaking, the SC's who spoke Dutch were obliged to assimilate. 'Frenchification' is spreading along with the suburbanization, in the surroundings of Brussels, mostly because of building site speculation, which brings about the establishment of well-to-do French-speaking people. The prestige of the French language has promoted acculturation & assimilation in the zone of suburbanization & leads to soc conflicts & double S-cul equipment, where a Dutch intelligentsia is developing. Nat'l solutions of: (1) decentralization, (2) town & country planning, (3) soc district - building & (4) informed immigration, seem to be possible solutions, of decreasing these tensions & promoting S-cul intergration. AA.
