Close as neighbours

NEIGHBOURHOOD — NICOLAS DE KUYSSCHE Close as neighbours According to surveys, 80 pc of Belgians would gladly take part in a small barbecue in the garden next door. IMMEUBLES EN FÊTE. This Tuesday 31 May, good neighbourliness will be raised to the rank of fine art. In Belgium, 200,000 participants are expected. [The body of the article is only partly legible on the scan. Notable points: Belgium has an average of 340 inhabitants per square kilometre; more than three Belgians out of four live in a city; 42 pc of respondents say they are friends with some of their neighbours, one Belgian in two knows their immediate neighbours; the operation, French in origin, is now European and brings together 300 partner cities, from Latvia to Greece; last year three million people took part; reference is made to Atanase Périfan, instigator of the event, and to his book "to put an end to a depressing France", as well as to the notions of "civic mobilisation", "conviviality" and "living better together"; the director of the ULB urban research centre recalls that "the city is a place of geographical proximity but it has more surreptitiously generated relational proximities".]