Re-Thinking the Role of Urban in-between Spaces

摘要: As urban areas continue to grow in population and size some experts have called for already settled areas to be used more efficiently. One popular approach is to redevelop individual sites in order to intensify their use, which in turn leads to a more compact arrangement of form. Another approach, which has to date been largely unexplored, is to make better use of existing spaces between buildings and other land uses; effectively these are the spaces that are left over through earlier uncoordinated development. It would appear there is potential for these in-between spaces to become locations for strategic intervention. The paper develops a conceptual framework focussed on ecological sustainability, and speculates over the extent to which private leftover urban spaces can be utilized in different ways within cities. This knowledge is distilled into a strategy for sufficiency. The research explores how small changes in an urban system can become a catalyst for an overall transformation of a city and its ecology. It is driven by the hypothesis that leftover urban spaces can be utilized in ways that can help regulate micro-climate, produce energy and absorb carbon emissions.