The creation of a common cultural heritage through the Euopean Union: Disengagements and re-integrations

European Union is one of the significant super-powers of our age. The definition of the united Europe has been produced since the Middle Ages while the definition of "Europe" has been produced since the Antique period regarding the economic, sogiological, cultural and politic conditions. Although the idea of united Europe had existed since the Middle Ages, the ideal construction of Europe could not be subjected in economic and sociological senses and in the built environment, as well. Within the developments in natural and social sciences, the ideal construction of Europe had been produced in the mid-19th century After the two world wars and civil wars Europe faced in 20th century, the institutional construction of Europe have been produced within the establishment of European Coal and Steel Community and the consecutive instiutional stuctures and the operation eventuated in the creation of European Union. The idea of united Europe is a federalist project in the political sense that requires a peaceful composition of nation-sates representing an entity while sustaining independent roles among the Union under the power of a supreme-constitutional system. Furthermore, EU, which has started to be used interchangeable for Europe, is still a growing project that has been undergoing the inclusive enlargements notably since the 1990's. As a result of this type of an operation, the EU has come face to face with the problematic of legitimacy ever before. In the scope of the study, the legitimacy problem is considered as the problem of representation of Europe through the urban and architectural approaches to get visibility and acceptability among the European citizens. The primary aim of the study is to investigate the effects of the crisis of representation of Europe on the capital cities of Europe and the transformation of the idea of representation by the needs of a capital city and Europe itself in the framework of city of Brussels as the capital of Europe. For this reason, the study examines the three capital cities of Europe which are in need of the creation of a common vision regarding the idea of representation. Strasbourg, the Parliamentary capital of Europe, Luxembourg, the Judical capital of Europe and Brussels, Executive capital of Europe are discussed briefly. In addition to this, early examples of European presence were examined regarding the physical and conceptual relations with the cities. The main argument was constructed on Brussels considering the special qualifications and advantages for the future of the study. Brussels had been following the dream of becoming one of the metropolises of Europe for centuries so that various conceptualizations and normative projects had been developed in Brussels within the cooperation of multi-disciplinary working groups and the executive structures. Since the late 1990's, the changing concept of representation of Europe through the urban and architecture has become the main problem of the city. In this study, the visionary changes on the urban and architectural future of the city were detailed under the three main approaches; Reports and Plans, Competitions, Exhibitions and Publications. As a result of this evolution, the study aims to create a discourse regarding rethinking the representation of Europe in the dimensions of Europe-EU-Brussels.