The urbanist's guide to Brussels: 'a city not yet living up to its potential'

Overcome the traffic congestion and occasional smell of urine, says the City Geek's Laurent Vermeersch, and you'll find a fascinating city of open-minded people and vibrant cultural life

I grew up in a suburb of Brussels, but moved to the city as soon as I could. Almost 14 years later, I'm still fascinated every day. I studied history and journalism, but ever since I built my dream city with Lego as a kid, deep down I aspired to be an urban planner. So now I earn a living covering urban issues for a Brussels news website, and I write about my hometown and other cities on my blog.