Nine Flemish Towns Get Green Light to Grow Faster

The Flemish government has designated nine municipalities as small urban cores with an expanded regional role, allowing them to grow more quickly, build higher — especially near railway stations — and develop larger facilities such as hospitals and major swimming pools. The selection, part of the new Beleidsplan Ruimte Vlaanderen (BRV), was revealed on 17 September 2026, a week after the government reached agreement on the broader spatial plan.

The nine municipalities are Zele, Zelzate and Aalter in East Flanders; Puurs-Sint-Amands and Willebroek in Antwerp province; Ternat, Zemst and Landen in Flemish Brabant; and Houthalen-Helchteren in Limburg, according to VRT NWS.

What the Designation Means

Under the plan, these “kleinstedelijke kernen” — small urban cores — gain a stronger role serving their surrounding region. They will be able to accommodate supra-local amenities, including hospitals, large swimming pools, and care, education, sports and community facilities that serve neighbouring municipalities. They also gain a clearer prospect of hosting supra-local business and employment sites.

A key feature is flexibility around density. The municipalities will have more room to build higher and more densely, particularly in station environments, where the government wants to concentrate housing, jobs and services in well-connected locations.

Crucially, no subsidies are attached to the new status, no growth target is imposed, and none of the nine is required to expand. The designation does not reclassify an entire territory as urban. Instead, a contour will be drawn for each core, with the municipality taking the lead, and even within that contour development is not automatic — local authorities decide where densification or transformation makes sense.

“We are not imposing a growth figure on these municipalities, nor are we saying they must suddenly become larger,” Flemish Minister of Environment and Agriculture Jo Brouns (CD&V) said in a statement. “We do recognise that, because of their location, accessibility and amenities, they can take on a stronger role for their wider region.”

A Break With the Past

The perspective echoes the Ruimtelijk Structuurplan Vlaanderen (RSV) of roughly 30 years ago, which designated smaller urban areas for urban policy. The critical difference is who holds the wheel: under the RSV, the region or provinces were responsible, whereas the new BRV places leadership with the local municipal government, in consultation with the province and the Department of Environment.

Brouns framed the shift as a correction to outdated rules. “Local authorities today sometimes run into plans and regulations dating from a completely different era,” he said. “When a municipality wants to convert an outdated site around a well-connected station into an attractive neighbourhood where living, working and amenities come together, our rules should support that instead of needlessly slowing it down.”

The minister also argued the approach spreads access to services more evenly. “Not every facility has to automatically end up in a large central city,” he said. “When a strong core is well connected and can take on a function for the surrounding region, it should get the chance. That is good for the municipality itself and for residents of surrounding villages, who gain access to important amenities closer to home.”

Part of a Broader Spatial Overhaul

The nine-core designation sits within the wider BRV, agreed by the Flemish government on 11 September 2026. As VRT NWS reported, the plan includes 30,000 hectares of additional protected open space, 13,000 hectares of de-paving by 2040 to improve resilience against drought and heavy rainfall, and 450,000 new homes by 2050 — accommodated as far as possible within existing residential areas, partly by splitting large homes into smaller units.

The plan also offers businesses more flexibility to expand on existing sites, for example by building higher, while aiming for no net loss of business parks. Each local authority can strike a tailor-made “bouwshift” deal with the Flemish government. The official framework is set out by the Department of Environment (Departement Omgeving).

At the heart of the policy is the bouwshift — the construction shift — which seeks to channel new housing, facilities and economic activity into existing cores and already-occupied space, easing pressure on open land. Brouns insisted this does not amount to a freeze. “The bouwshift does not mean Flanders is being locked up,” he said. “We want to give room to development, but steer it better toward places where it can deliver the most social value and spatial quality.”

Criticism From the Opposition

The designation has drawn opposition. Mieke Schauvliege, faction leader of the green party Groen in the Flemish Parliament, argued that allowing more municipalities to evolve into small cities effectively permits more paving. “Flanders already consists mainly of stone and concrete,” she said, as reported by De Morgen. “By allowing more municipalities to transform themselves into a small city, the government is essentially giving the green light for more hardening.”

What to Watch

Several questions remain unresolved. The precise contour of each of the nine cores has yet to be drawn, and it is unclear how much additional buildable land the designations could ultimately unlock. The plan still requires consultation with local authorities and a public inquiry, and additional financing must be found — current resources cover only part of the task.

Flanders is one of Europe’s most densely built regions, and pressure on land has grown steadily; the last three decades brought roughly one million additional inhabitants, an increase of about 17%. How the nine municipalities use their new status — and whether the bouwshift’s promises of preserved open space hold — will be a key test of whether the BRV can reconcile growth with the protection of green space.