The Dark Side of the City

A history of the hidden and the forbidden in the urban landscape, born out of a research project conducted on Genoa's night life.

What happens when the music's over? What happens when the lights turn off? What happens when the lights turn elsewhere? This is the story of what you do not want to see. This is the story of what you do not want to watch. This is the story of what you do not want to know. This is the story of the hidden, this is the story of the forbidden. This is the story of the unspoken, the inscrutable, the unsearchable, the unfathomable, the impenetrable. This is the story of empty, void, vacant, shallow, vacuous, frothy, null, insignificant, pointless, vain, invalid, disabled, bereaved, bereft, destitute, blank, emptiness, gap, rifle, dump, deplete. This is the story of a city, this is also the story of all cities. This is the story of the Dark Side of All of Us.

Alberto Bertagna is an architect and researcher in urban planning at the University of Genoa.