Doel, a Belgian city that needs to go...

[scheffer]

All,

since I live quite close to it, I decided to go to Doel in Belgium. The Belgian governemnt decided to basically delete this city in favor of some extra space for the Antwerp harbor. (like it is not large enough already). Of course, the people living there do not really like this too much and protest. There are about 100 houses there, of which some have been brought down already, and most of them are empty. Some people still live there, but were told that their deadline is end of August 2009. Weird place. empty streets (besides some tourists like me). Houses that are still occupied are no longer taken proper care of; a ghost town in western society. streets, flowers outside etc are still cleaned byt eh governement like nothing is going on. Many houses are open and you can enter, but is not appreciated by the local people at all (for obvious reasons), and is illegal I was told.

I put everything in BW,trying to reflect the atmosphere. The weather was perhaps too nice, it should have been more cloudy...

this is my first attempt at photojournalism, so c and c are welcome!

enjoy,
Danny

 

[Dmitri]

That is creepy. It looks like something from one of those 'end of the world' movies... I like the heart on the door in the 5th photo.

Also, stop de waanzen? waanzen = bugs?

 

[luftwagon]

I like the series ... makes me want to see more ...
How long have portions of the town been abandoned?

 

[scheffer]

thanks for the comments. I have added a couple more, but this time I did not put them in BW, just directly from the camera without any postprocessing.

"Waanzin" means something like nonsens. Some houses have been abandoned for a couple of years already, while others are only recently left by themselves. funny thing is that the people who still live there need to put a sign on their door, to indicate that they are still living there. The heart on the door tells you that the house is empty.

Danny

 

[luftwagon]

Not sure if you know or not ...
Why would they use a heart to signify that nobody lives in the house? Seems kind of contradictory, given how the village people felt about being forced from their homes.

 

[Dmitri]

Thanks for the info on the waanzen word. Seems strange, also like Luftwagon says, the heart should mean someone lives there.

Also weird, wikipedia says that all residential permits expired in 2007 - so wonder how people still live there. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doel)

Anyway, creepy pics. Thanks for sharing this modern day ghost town!