The Life of a Bastard Quarter by Sandro Armanda (2020)

'The Life of a Bastard Quarter' is a delve into the notorious Northern Quarter, the once-ambitious megaproject of the city of Brussels that has turned into a ‘ghost town’ that we all know today. The booklet is divided into three chapters. The first chapter, 'The Birth', tells a brief story of how the whole thing started. In the late 1960s, 12,000 of its inhabitants had to be displaced to give space for a new Central Business District which was later heavily criticised by the public as an urban crime. The second part, 'The Phantom', investigates the ‘ghost town’ phenomenon that has occured in the recent decades of the quarter’s life. This chapter brings readers to look closer into how the quarter behaves and to identify what is lacking. While the last part, 'The Life' explores some strategies to bring life back to the quarter.