The obduracy of the detached single family house in Flanders

After the Second World War, Belgium, and especially the Flemish region, was confronted with massive suburbanisation. The single family house became the dominant building type located in residential subdivisions, ribbon developments or as piecemeal developments scattered through the landscape. Today, there are growing concerns about the future of the post-war suburban housing stock in the light of the changing demographics, economics and an increasing ecological consciousness. Incremental modification, through the creation of secondary dwelling units in existing underused dwellings, is one of the strategies currently discussed to transform low-density residential neighbourhoods into more sustainable patterns. However, practice shows that the subdivision of detached single family houses still remains a rather marginal phenomenon in Flanders. This article analyses the ‘obduracy’ of the detached single family house in detail. Our analysis shows the obduracy as the result of a complex entanglement of very heterogeneous elements such as the materiality of the house, the meaning of home, the local home culture, real estate values, spatial policies, zoning plans and legislative framework. If the creation of secondary units would be adopted by the government as a transformation strategy for the suburban housing stock, then its implementation will demand a clear spatial vision on the future of residential neighbourhoods, an integral policy with linkages between the different policy sectors and different levels of administration, and a comprehensive set of measures.