Bruxelles his art nouveau and cool mood

During the first week of July I spent à whole week in Bruxelles, hosted by a friend in his wonderful flat in one of these old houses « Art nouveau », which seems to be usual in Bruxelles . This Town can be proud of these houses who are one of his architectural jewels. Paris can also be proud of his Hausman buildings, but they are all always the same that they can be boring too. In Bruxelles the urban building laws were different , and each bilder was allowed to build his own house , the way he wanted, and most of the time he tried to do it differently from his neighbour, and competed to be more original than the others in the same street. You can stroll the streets of Bruxelles and discover interesting details everywhere, the « sgraffites » on the façades are very famous too. Then we discover that the style becomes more stylized with the art déco style the art déco style which paved the way to modern art.

I loath saying that somewhere is better than another place ( I prefer to say it is différent, which contains no judgment ).
All I can say is that I felt quite at ease in Bruxelles, the population is very mixed and multicultural with apparently no ghettos ( except perhaps the European staff who tend to dwell in the same part of the town. ) The French people are among the first population of foreigners with the Moroccan people …. All these people seem to get along quite smoothly .
There is less stress than in Paris but it is very difficult to compare these two towns so different. My friend pointed out that in Paris ( the community of Paris) there were 2.250 million inhabitants on a surface of 105 km2 ( density of 10540 inhabitants/ km2) whereas Bruxelles has 1,155 million inhabitants on a surface of 161 km2 ( density 7158 inhabitants / km2). So I think it is the real and material conditions that make the people ( or explained how they behave and react). I saw people more relaxed and interacting easily between each other, it’s easy to ask for an information or an advice. I even noticed many times peoples giving up their seat in the tram ( typically of Bruxelles too) for an elderly man or woman , or even once for me ! Perhaps afterall I look older than I think I am !

P.S : feel free to correct my big mistakes .

Jean-Pierre,
As a tourist you don't feel the undercurrent. While it is true that life is not as hectic here as it is in Paris, communication between Flemish and Walloons is not always without problem, because one doesn't necessary want to speak the language of the other, so English becomes the 'lingua franca'.
It is also true that there is now a building code and that many Art Nouveau houses have been saved, but it wasn't always so. Quite a few beautiful buildings were torn down until the mid or late 80s (I think) to make way for new roads, tunnels and modern office buildings, but then the authorities came to their senses and now you are not allowed to make changes to 'classified' buildings. Of some buildings only the façades were kept while the inside (walls, ceilings and all) were demolished and rebuilt.
There are no ghettos per se, but you'll find an accumulation of Turkish people in St. Josse and St. Gilles, while Moroccans are residing in Schaerbeek (around Gare du Nord, Place Liedts, etc.) The suburbs of Tervuren, Kraainem, Rhode St. Genèse and Waterloo are preferred by English, Germans and Americans, but you can also find them closer to town in Boitsfort, Auderghem, Woluwé St. Pierre etc.
Anyway, this is how I see it after living here for 30+ years, but I may not have the whole picture. Let me know if you have any comments or questions.