The historic centre of the medieval city of Ghent was thoroughly transformed before 1914. With the idea of modernization, buildings around the big monuments were torn down. The vision of Camillo Sitte on urbanism was the spirit of the transformation. The first phase of demolition took place before 1913 (Part 1), the second phase took place at the beginning of the sixties (Part 2). The zone between the City Hall , the Belfry and Saint Nicholas’s Church became an open space in the heart of the city, a ‘hole in the city’ was created, something that could not be called a square.