The city speaks

In countless stories – whether it is a movie, a novel or a comic strip – the city provides the background setting against which the action will take place. However, at times the city is more than just a static backdrop and it becomes almost human. The city centre is the throbbing heart. The streets and alleys are the cardiovascular system and the cars and trams are the blood that flows smoothly or becomes blocked causing a heart attack. The people are the blood cells and meet each other at random, resulting into unexpected adventures and conflicts but also ending in passionate affairs.

Some cities are immediately identifiable and therefore a basic premise for what could happen. In London, the fog will conceal a crime just in the nick of time, New York is hectic and sufficiently big enough to enable you to remain anonymous and to get lost or to find yourself again, while Paris is known for its promise of romance.

In the very heart of Brussels, take a guided walk along some world cities that are portrayed by twelve authors, each in their very own style. Cities for which they have great affinity and which they love dearly, perhaps one day more than another. They live in these cities or they are drawn to them time and time again. Their city is like a childhood sweetheart or a very demanding lover. It is either exotic and impenetrable or familiar and predictable. Or all of this rolled into one.