LIEGE’S URBAN AGGLOMERATION
[EDIT: Liège, December 17] Liège Demain, an organization concerned with promoting the interests of the City of Liège, sees Liège as a particular case of this type of development, where the population of the city itself might be hovering between 190,000 and 200,000; but where the actual population, making use of the city, is probably closer to 600,000. They would like to create an urban agglomeration, a coalition of the surrounding towns to provide the city with the type of support it needs. Similar moves have been afoot in Aachen, with the City Region. This was the position made at the Liège Demain meeting in December in the splendid setting of the upper foyer of the Salle Philharmonique de Liège, which perhaps symbolizes the issue concerned. It was also a forum for some interesting speakers, including Jean-Pierre Rousseau, the musical director and the moment when Bernard Piëtte of Walloon Logistics stepped down after his year as president of Liège Demain. His place was taken by Pierre Fontaine, who will be the chairman through 2010. Check the website for information.
It is frequently the case, in the modern world, that large industrial/commercial and government centers tend to provide employment, retail facilities, and entertainment to a larger hinterland. What happens is that the employed and reasonably paid population will move outside of the city to smaller, perhaps more attractive, villages and towns on the outskirts. This means is that the city from which they derive their employment and wealth is deprived of the taxation and population base that it deserves.
http://www.liegedemain.be/