A mediapark in Reyers? Brussels’ media industry and its regional dynamics

Description

The Media Clusters Brussels (MCB) project examined the characteristics of the media industry in Brussels from the point of view of media clusters and assessed the implications for the main strategic action of the Brussels-Capital Region with regard to this industry, namely the 10-year project mediapark.brussels for the urban and real estate development of the Reyers district around the current site of the public broadcasters VRT and RTBF. MCB’s research results highlight several cluster configurations within Brussels’ media industry, the diversity of the sector’s workforce, and provide insight into different models of worker communities and their activities. The political orientations currently governing the implementation of mediapark.brussels were also analyzed. The knowledge gained makes it possible to evaluate the possible strategies for this project, considering that in Belgium, the media fall within the competence of the Communities, and not the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region. During the presentation, we will discuss the tensions that arise in the setting up of mediapark.brussels, opposing urban development and cultural development, local perspective and international perspective, the media cluster covering a wide range of activities and a cluster specialized in media.

Period	12 Dec 2018
Held at	L’Institut de recherches interdisciplinaires sur Bruxelles (Irib), Belgium
Degree of Recognition	Local