13 kommunale Fusionen verändern die Landkarte in Flandern

I hate the -gem neologisms like Lievegem and Pajottegem. We haven’t naturally formed place names like that for centuries. I get that they’re trying to make it sound like their municipalities have historical names, but it just sounds artificial. 

The suggestions with Pajottenland (I think Zuid-Pajottenland was one of them) were much better. That’s an actual historical name.

Even the ones that are just the two old names with a dash inbetween are better. At least they make it clear that the municipalities are just a level of government, which comprises multiple towns for efficiency, and the individual towns still exist and people still feel connected to them.

The Netherlands is much better in that regard. They have huge municipalities, but e.g. a journalist will say something happened (like a car crash or whatever) in Sas van Gent in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen instead of writing Terneuzen because that’s the municipality Sas van Gent is part of. Unless of course the municipal government is actually relevant. In Belgium a journalist will often write something happened in Merelbeke-Melle when it’s literally fewer words to just say whether it happened in Merelbeke or Melle (or another town in that municipality). Less information for no reason.

It’s like some people believe the old places stop existing and get replaced by a large blob of houses near the geographical center of the new municipality. No, it’s just the government that changes.