essay January 24, 2023  

Flâneur’s cities – what makes a city suitable for flânerie?

By Budgie Perruche

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The streets are narrow: “a maze of passages and streets which blur into each other and only become distinct near the quays of wood and lime.” The pavement is awful, leaving you having to negotiate puddles and mud: “Mud up to the ankles, sheets of water on the pavements poorly protected by asphalt.” In the evening the streets are badly lit and there is hardly anything to see and to do—Daniel Acke

When discussing cities and flânerie, we quickly arrive at a question: what makes a city suitable for a flâneur to thrive? In this essay, I will try to answer this question by analyzing “The Flâneur in Brussels: French and Belgian Literary Perspectives in Counterpoint” by Daniel Acke [1 (Chapter XIV)]. In his analysis, Acke examines literary texts about flânerie in Brussels. The first part of Acke’s analysis comprises works written by experienced Parisian flâneurs: Baudelaire, Nerval, and Huysmans, who visited Brussels in the XIX century. These authors are pessimistic in their tone, with Baudelaire being significantly negative, if not insulting. From these three accounts, one could conclude that flânerie in the Belgian capital was an impossible task. I agree with Daniel Acke that the principal reason why these texts show Brussels as the opposite of the Paris of the time is that these authors were Parisian flâneurs. Indeed, they looked at the Belgian capital from the point of view of what they already knew and were used to, namely, Haussmannian Paris – a city that, at the time, few other cities could match.

Nevertheless, I think some of the points made by these authors are interesting and allow for a more general discussion about the characteristics that make a city suitable for practicing flânerie. Some of them are not obvious at first sight, mainly because of the changes that have happened since the texts were written.

I have divided these characteristics into geographic, urban, and social classes. It is easy to see that many of these characteristics depend on each other, and I will highlight some of these dependencies. But let’s have a look at the classes collected in the table below:

Characteristic	Class	Description
topography	geographic	how hilly the city is
location	geographic	access to, e.g., rivers, climate, etc.
sociability	social	population engagement in social activities
space	urban	size, crowdedness, but also view distance to architectural elements
amenities	urban	for example, existence and state of pavements, parks, squares, etc.
aesthetics	urban	aesthetics of architecture

Geographic setting

In “The Flâneur in Brussels: French and Belgian Literary Perspectives in Counterpoint” by Daniel Acke [1 (Chapter XIV)] we can identify two main motifs of a geographic nature. The first is the topography, which is discussed in the context of Brussels being a hilly city and Paris being mainly flat. The other one is somewhat enigmatic for us today: all the Parisian flâneurs mention that, in contrast to Paris, Brussels is not located on any significant waterway, and they saw that as an important drawback.

Topography and enjoyable walking

In the accounts of the Parisian flâneurs, Brussels is described as a city not suitable for enjoyable strolling. This argument stems from an assumption made by the flâneurs of the past that walking should not be burdened with physical effort. At least one of these authors admits that there are lovely views from the hills, but in his opinion, that cannot compensate for the effort needed to walk the streets in Brussels. In my opinion and experience as someone who has lived in a very hilly city – Haifa – the topographic argument alone does not rule out flânerie in a hilly city. Walking in a flat city may be effortless, but the hills add to the experience. Yet, it is true that a hilly city may make flânerie difficult for some people, e.g., the elderly or disabled. It is also quite clear that this characteristic is strongly connected to amenities available in the city, such as sidewalks, shortcuts like stairs over the hills, cable cars, etc.

Sociability-encouraging landmarks

The next and somewhat cryptic argument against flânerie in Brussels is that the city is not located on any major waterway. Nerval wrote [1 (Chapter XIV)]:

there is no great city without a river

To be fair, we need to clarify one detail on that matter. Just as few people know that Paris had a second river – la Bièvre – probably equally few know that a small river called the Senne flows through Brussels. Unfortunately, both rivers faced a similar fate: because of their pollution, they were covered over, diverted, and made part of the sewer system (the Senne was covered between 1867 and 1871). In the distant past, the Senne, although small, served as Brussels’ main waterway. That was no longer the case in the XIX century, when its pollution posed a significant health risk to the city’s population, as the Bièvre did in Paris.

All of this is a bit mysterious. It took me a while to understand why the lack of a river was such an essential argument against Brussels. But to understand that point, we need to travel back in time to XIX-century Paris. Unlike today, the banks of the Seine were then a bustling place. In fact, as strange as it may sound, life has returned to the banks of the Seine only recently (cars were banned from the left bank in 2013 and from the right bank in 2017). After WWII, the use of this part of the city as a social space declined, and in the 1960s, the banks were turned into expressways. But let’s return to the XIX century. Back then, the Seine’s banks were a place where all the social classes of the city mixed. There were boats used for transporting people between different parts of the city (in some cases, it was the fastest way of commuting). There were laundry boats and commercial activities, such as goods being transported to the city. Earlier, water-related industries had also occupied the banks, but they were pushed away in Haussmann’s time. As we can see, the banks of the Seine were a place where a flâneur could observe all the layers of society.

Below is a painting by Thomas Shotter Boys (1803–1874) entitled “The Seine and Palace of the Tuileries”. In it, we can see boats, people doing laundry and, in the distance, other people engaged in various social activities.

In my opinion, the real problem of Brussels was not the lack of a big river passing through the city. I think that the Parisian flâneurs would have probably also complained about the Manzanares river in Madrid. Yet, as we learned from the previous article The Art of Flânerie, flânerie was possible in Madrid but in a different form than in Paris. One factor that I think is important here is the sociability of the population.

Sociability

Another vital part of flânerie relates to the social life of the city’s population. As we learn from the accounts mentioned in Acke’s text, the people of Brussels were somewhat individualistic. They preferred to limit their social interactions to their families and close friends. Acke quotes Joris-Karl Huysmans, who visited Brussels and wrote:

The square is black, the avenues deserted, all the life of Brussels retreats to the place de la Monnaie and in the Galeries Saint-Hubert. … with the help of what potions, what opiated balms, could one succeed in putting an end to the interminable evening?

Let me also quote here an account by Baudelaire:

No shop window displays.

Flânerie past shops, this pleasure, this edification, an impossible thing!

Everyone stays home! (OC, 827). [1 (Chapter XIV)]

Role of climate on sociability

Climate may be one of many possible explanations for such differences in social behavior. A study from 2017 by Wei et al. [2] found that growing up in places where the average temperature is closer to the comfortable 22°C is associated with personality traits linked to exploring the outdoors:

It is particularly telling that our large datasets from two geographically large yet culturally distinct countries [China and the US] provided converging evidence. Taken together, these findings are consistent with our temperature clemency perspective of personality: growing up in temperatures that are close to the psychophysiological comfort optimum encourages individuals to explore the outside environment, thereby influencing their personalities.

The authors also mention an intriguing social thermoregulation theory:

which posits that people seek ‘social warmth’ in a cold environment because an important function of social relationships is to facilitate the regulation of body temperature. For example, a recent study found that, compared with residents of warmer climates, residents of colder climates reported a wider variety of social ties.

Here, we can compare the climates of Paris and Brussels to see how different the weather is and whether such a difference can account for the social differences. I will include not only temperatures but also two other factors that seem to me plausibly related to social behavior.

Average temperatures (Celsius) in Brussels and Paris [3]:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Brussels	3.3	3.7	6.8	9.8	13.6	16.2	18.4	18	14.9	11.1	6.8	3.9	10.5
Paris	4.9	5.6	8.8	11.4	15.1	18.2	20.4	20.2	16.9	12.9	8.1	5.4	12.3
Absolute difference	1.6	1.9	2	1.6	1.5	2	2	2.2	2	1.8	1.3	1.5	1.8

Average monthly precipitation (in mm) for Brussels and Paris [4]:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Brussels	75.2	61.6	69.5	51	65.1	72.1	73.6	76.8	69.6	75	77	81.4	848
Paris	51	41.2	47.6	51.8	63.2	49.6	62.3	52.7	47.6	61.5	51.1	57.8	637.4
Absolute difference	24.2	20.4	21.9	0.8	1.9	22.5	11.3	24.1	22	13.5	25.9	23.6	210.6

Sunshine hours for Paris and Brussels [5]:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Brussels	59	77	114	159	191	188	201	190	143	113	66	45	1546
Paris	63	79	129	166	194	202	212	212	168	118	68	51	1662
Absolute difference	4	2	15	7	3	14	11	22	25	5	2	6	116

As we can see, the climate in Paris is slightly different from that in Brussels: not only does Brussels have lower average temperatures and higher rainfall during the year, but, more importantly, it also receives less sunshine (about 7% less per year). Unfortunately, the publication by Wei et al. [2] does not include enough data for us to make any reasonable guesses about the impact of the above climate-related factors on the sociability of the populations living in Paris and Brussels. Generally speaking, the study suggests that such effects exist, yet we should remember that sociability is far more complex and does not depend solely on climate.

Urbanization

The last key factor is the role of urbanization. I listed three items under the urban class in the first table: space, amenities, and aesthetics. The first relates to the size of the city and, for example, how much space one has while walking the streets – is there enough space to walk, or do we end up in overcrowded narrow streets? The second includes all the elements that improve or even make possible comfortable walking in the city. These are pavements, street lighting, parks, squares, passages, etc. As we read in Acke’s chapter, a Parisian flâneur visiting Brussels in the second half of the XIX century would find certain things unusual in comparison to Paris — a city that was undergoing significant urban changes at the time. In the part about Huysmans’ visit to Brussels, we read:

The pavement is awful, leaving you having to negotiate puddles and mud: “Mud up to the ankles, sheets of water on the pavements poorly protected by asphalt.” In the evening the streets are badly lit and there is hardly anything to see and to do.

Moreover, it seems that Brussels lacked space:

this distance seems to be sacrificed in Brussels where people on the street come too close to each other [1 (Chapter XIV)]

I think the reason for that was purely related to urban planning and not to local customs. Indeed, appreciating monuments and gazing at shop windows require space around the viewer. On crowded streets, one is disturbed and cannot focus.

The other aspect of the city is its aesthetics, which, in my opinion, have two sides: architecture and other elements, such as landscape. At the end of the XIX century, Brussels was full of monuments. But, in contrast to Haussmannian Paris, it was a city without a coherent architectural vision and rather chaotic in this respect. To be fair, Leopold II tried to give the city a more Haussmannian appearance, but much of that was later altered.

A few words about Brusselization

Unfortunately, Brussels has a relatively long history of “wars” with architecture and urban planning. For example, a number of buildings from the reign of Leopold II were demolished and replaced by modern ones between the 1950s and the 1980s, starting with the preparations for the 1958 World’s Fair (Expo 58). Some people went as far as calling Brussels ugly and chaotic [1 (Chapter XIV)]. This phenomenon of replacing old buildings with modern ones without any overall plan is known as Brusselization [6] and owes its name to the city of Brussels, and not without reason. To give you an example of the architectural and urban turmoil in Brussels, I inserted below illustrations showing (A) Victor Horta’s famous “Maison du Peuple” – an Art Nouveau building completed in 1899 and demolished in 1965 – and (B) the “Blaton Tower” that was constructed in the place of the “Maison du Peuple”. Worth noting is that the demolition of the “Maison du Peuple” caused an outcry, including an international protest by over 700 architects, yet the city officials remained indifferent to these voices [7].

Still, I am unsure whether aesthetics or any other aspect alone can make a city unsuitable for flânerie. Yet, architectural aesthetics can play a crucial role in our experience. Moreover, even if the city has exciting aesthetics but lacks, e.g., space, we will not be able to appreciate the aesthetics as we will not be able to stand in the best viewing position or we will be disturbed by passers-by.

The final thought

As we can see, it is all complicated. Many of the factors I have identified are interconnected, e.g., lack of space will impact our appreciation of aesthetics. A cold climate will likely discourage us from exploring the city or stop us from making social observations as street life will be affected, etc. I think what is important here is that even if a city cannot change its climate or topography, it can still change many other things such as aesthetics, amenities, or space, and thanks to that, improve not only the experience of flânerie but also the life of the inhabitants. The last question I cannot answer right now is whether urban planning can alter sociability. My guess is that it is possible in a limited way.

It does not seem easy to untangle the different contributors, and I think all of them need to be balanced to provide a great experience. While working on this essay, I talked about Brussels with a French colleague who lived in the city not long ago. In his opinion, the Brussels city center today is more enjoyable to walk around than overcrowded Paris. Indeed, nowadays, in the view of many inhabitants, Paris is a great city to visit but not to live in because of the constant stress. As someone who spent around five years in the Parisian region, I have to say that I was glad to move from Paris to Haifa. It may seem weird to someone who visited Haifa on a day trip. Still, it is a calm place full of hidden gems which are impossible to find or appreciate in a short time – one of them being the people living in Haifa, who are incredibly sociable, most likely thanks to the sunny weather for most of the year.

References

1. Wrigley, R. (Ed.). (2014). The Flâneur abroad: Historical and international perspectives. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2. Wei, W., Lu, J. G., Galinsky, A. D., Wu, H., Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., … & Wang, L. (2017). Regional ambient temperature is associated with human personality. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(12), 890-895. (For online preview see here)
3. Wikipedia contributors. (2023, January 20). List of cities by average temperature. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 21, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_average_temperature
4. Wikipedia contributors. (2023a, January 20). List of cities by average precipitation. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 21, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_average_precipitation
5. Wikipedia contributors. (2022, November 13). List of cities by sunshine duration. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 21, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_sunshine_duration
6. Wikipedia contributors. (2022a, September 3). Brusselization. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brusselization
7. Wikipedia contributors. (2022a, August 12). Maison du Peuple, Brussels. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maison_du_Peuple,_Brussels

Header image: Baldus, É. (circa 1860). Pont de Solférino (colorized by imagecolorizer.com). Vergue. Retrieved January 15, 2023, from http://vergue.com/post/353/Pont-de-Solferino