Exploring the Past in Public: Recent Public History Exchanges in Southern Luxembourg

Scientific Conference (2021, October 07)

Tagungsbericht: Rethinking the Histories and Legacies of Industrial Cities

in Moderne Stadtgeschichte (2021), (1), 145-150

The history of (Western) European industrial cities is often told as a tragic tale of rise and decline: from rapid industrialisation in the late 19th century and economic prosperity during the Trente ... [more ▼]

The history of (Western) European industrial cities is often told as a tragic tale of rise and decline: from rapid industrialisation in the late 19th century and economic prosperity during the Trente glorieuses to the structural changes of the late 1970s and the subsequent deindustrialisation of the 1980s and 1990s – decades in which most mines and steelworks closed down, unemployment rates went up, new social problems emerged, workers’ identities eroded, and once prosperous urban centres became faced with shrinking populations and empty stores in their shopping streets. Finally, since the 2000s, former industrial towns have tried to reinvent themselves as creative and cultural centres. If we take a closer look, however, we can see that the socio-economic, demographic and cultural transitions were more complex than suggested by a simple rise-and-decline narrative. [less ▲]

The Twentieth-Century Ministerial Office Building as a Laboratory of Government

in Moderne Stadtgeschichte (2021), (2), 147-166

Within the historiographical field of “political architecture”, ministerial office buildings have always been a somewhat marginal subject, undeservedly deemed of secondary importance in relation to more ... [more ▼]

Within the historiographical field of “political architecture”, ministerial office buildings have always been a somewhat marginal subject, undeservedly deemed of secondary importance in relation to more “representative” types of political buildings. Dwelling on the insights of the nineteenth-century essayist Bagehot and the office historians Duffy and Gardey, my contribution postulates that from the early twentieth century onward, ministerial office architecture has become an essential functional component of any political configuration, as well as a phenomenon defined by a complex interrelationship between physical realities and managerial norms. Even though various historiographical contributions from the last two decades have successfully scrutinised the reciprocal conceptual relations between politics and architecture in relation to ministerial offices, the huge influence of internationally circulating managerial norms such as Taylorism has strangely remained under the radar. Using the example of Belgium during the interwar period, I seek to demonstrate how such norms were strongly mobilised when new ministerial office buildings were planned, and how their propagators even considered “modern” and “efficient” office architecture to be an agent of broad social reform. With this case study, I would like to call attention to the need for a transnational comparative perspective covering the intermingled domains of politics, architecture, and management. [less ▲]

Architectures of bureaucracy: An architectural and political history of ministerial offices in Belgium, 1915-1940

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Gläserne Zwischenwände für effektive Kontrollen: Das belgische Regierungsbüro in der Zwischenkriegszeit

in Bernasconi, Gianenrico; Nellen, Stefan (Eds.) Das Büro: Zur Rationalisierung des Interieurs, 1880-1960 (2019)

Recensie van: Anne Morelli (red.), "Le Bruxelles des révolutionnaires, de 1830 à nos jours" & Joseph Van Wassenhove, "Bruxelles: la vie quotidienne au XIXe siècle par les écrivains de l’époque"

in Contemporanea (2018), (1),

Les immeubles de bureaux / De bureaugebouwen

in Pesztat, Yaron (Ed.) Blaton, une dynastie de constructeurs / Blaton, een dynastie van bouwers (2017)

An 'architecture of bureaucracy': Technocratic planning of government architecture in Belgium in the 1930s

in Lloyd Thomas, Katie; Amhoff, Tilo; Beech, Nick (Eds.) Industries of Architecture (2016)

“Ik heb sinds jaren geen buiten meer gezien”. De beleving en verbeelding van stads- en plattelandsnatuur in de vroege romans van Lode Baekelmans

in Bertels, Inge; Furnée, Jan-Hein; Sintobin, Tom (Eds.) et al Tussen beleving en verbeelding: De stad in de negentiende-eeuwse literatuur (2013)

Felbevochten vergroeningen: Het Leuvense stadsnatuurbeleid, 1918-1958

Book published by Peeters / Salsa (2012)