Molenbeek upside down: a critical chronicle of 50 years of the metro

In 1981, to extend metro line 1 westward, three new stations were created: Comte de Flandre, Étangs Noirs, and Beekkant. Until then, the construction of the first sections of the metro in the Pentagon had only resulted in the demolition of a few buildings (rue de l’Écuyer, rue de l’Évêque). But in the case of Molenbeek, the work caused a gash in the urban fabric and drove hundreds of inhabitants of working-class neighborhoods from their areas (787 people evicted and 150 buildings destroyed). At the time, ARAU proposed a counter-project more respectful of the built environment. The reconstruction, concerning both the built fabric and the entirety of the public space (left fallow by the Ministry of Communications at the time), required significant financial resources. It would not begin until 1994, 20 years after the first demolitions...