A place of taboo – a necessary place. About building an identity of a housing estate based on shameful functions on the example of Belgian Cureghem

The paper aims to analyze the phenomenon of building an identity of a place using functions that have so far been taboo – caused fear of death, impurity and decay. These include cemeteries, hospitals, morgues, landfills, but also food production facilities such as municipal slaughterhouses and livestock farms. So far, the succession of functions that followed technical development meant that they were located more and more away from downtown areas, and their place replaced those considered to better meet the condition of “urbanity”. This trend is currently being reversed. The example of the Global Abattoir housing estate illustrates the general trend in which there is a departure from the biological sphere of life towards an attempt to build identity without masking the historical role of the place. The analyzed case, however, shows a series of complicated relationships that must occur in order to balance the profane element, reaching out to the subconscious fears of a human being.