Utilization of Urban Lost Spaces
Exploring the potential of repurposing urban lost spaces
by Shreya Kataria*,
- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540
Volume 18, Issue No. 3, Apr 2021, Pages 269 - 274 (6)
Published by: Ignited Minds Journals
ABSTRACT
Rapid urbanization, along with uncontrolled urban expansion and outdated management processes, may result in a loss of space that is underutilised or ignored in metropolitan areas. These areas are referred to as lost space in this study. It may be located at anyplace that is not connected to a lively location. These areas may be changed into a viable public place with economic, social, and ecological significance. The loss of urban space owing to uncontrolled growth is a regular occurrence in most cities. However, careful urban regeneration might be a process that creates new chances by repurposing lost area such that it becomes useful and improve people's health, happiness, and well-being by using a community's assets, inspiration, and potential to achieve future objectives such as city social and economic growth. The purpose of this article is to address the use of lost space in urban areas. It will also provide some strategic advice on how to utilise the ‘lost spaces’.
KEYWORD
urban lost spaces, rapid urbanization, uncontrolled urban expansion, outdated management processes, lost space, lively location, viable public place, economic significance, social significance, ecological significance
INTRODUCTION
Architects, urban designers, municipal officials, and city planners in most cities today are confronted with the issue of developing comprehensive landscapes in urban cores, notably as collaborative, uniting, and restructuring frameworks for new (re)development. Too frequently, design's contribution is reduced to a cosmetic makeover of facilities that were poorly designed for public use in the first place. Without examining the interaction between buildings and spaces, as well as a greater knowledge of human behavior, the urban planning process approaches buildings as isolated objects, rather than as part of bigger streets, squares, parks, and viable open space. As a result, unshaped antispace arises in the majority of today's environmental contexts. It is based on the notion of urbanism as a key attitude in urban design, emphasizing the spatially integrated public realm above master planning. This method is well-known for creating figurative space out of a vanishing landscape. Architects, urban planners, urban environmentalists, and landscape architects all have a vital role to play in meeting the problem and reintegrating the lost areas in the urban center into the democratic urban. Lost space, according to Chohan (2014), is the normative core of urbanity. Before economic manipulation in urbanity aimed at expanding mobility, global competitiveness, and image marketing to increase economy, all too frequently space is homogenized on consumerist and aestheticized ideals. The inability to harmonize with the existing system of public space and integrate into its surroundings more effectively caused the challenge of contemporary urban space if the urban space is poorly defined. Lost space, according to Trancik, is an unfinished landscape. They are the undermanaged zones that appear between districts, buildings, or roadways without anybody noticing it until it is done on the ground. It's the unwelcome urban space that develops by accident during the planning stage. In other terms, lost space might be defined as an inefficient use of space in a city that is cut off from pedestrian movement. It is a deserted and abandoned location that has lost all of its functions. Trancik observes that open space, such as a park, might be deemed wasted if it is not used for its original function. When a lost location is given a contextual meaning drawn from cultural or regional content, it becomes a place. Kuala Lumpur has been more dominated by mobility and communication, and as a result, it has lost much of its cultural significance and human purpose, particularly now; the spaces between buildings are seldom created. The effects of this are seen all around us. The discontinuous lack of visual and physical coherence in Kuala Lumpur has led to a more utilitarian approach to their arrangement, with the concept of utility increasingly migrating from the arrangement of exterior space to that of inside space. A structure tends to become more of an object when removed from its surroundings. Under the logic of lost space and how theoretical knowledge influences user perception, this study aims to get a deeper knowledge of local perceptions of lost space in urban core locations and, as a result,
THE “LOST SPACE” DEFINITION
What is the lost space, exactly? How can we tell it apart from a vibrant or welcoming urban area? The term "lost space" refers to areas that have been left without manufacturing, such as fields and large buildings, as well as lands that have been isolated from the flow of pedestrian activity, become stagnant, and have been left unused. Car parking spots, locations at the border of freeways, and roadways that have been left unattended are all examples of lost spaces. In general, there are sites where no one has any sentimental attachment. Due to the possibilities of growth and paying lesser taxes outside of cities, there are abandoned beaches, railway yards, evacuated military facilities, and industrial enterprises. It also includes vacant lots that haven't been repaired for whatever reason and are situated on the outside of park areas that aren't in danger of being destroyed. Due to a failure to react to the demands and time constraints, public structures must be restored and refurbished. Lost spaces, in general, are unacceptably large portions that must be rebuilt. Irregular space has no beneficial effects on the environment or customers. They may, however, be a priceless chance for designers to establish a new set of urban areas.
URBAN LOST SPACES
Roger Trancik proposed the concept of urban lost space as one of his hypotheses in this topic. This thesis focuses on the spaces created by modernist modifications in the historical fabric of cities. By reducing the roadways, trains, and other infrastructure, numerous unnecessary blank places are created. These changes, together with other important changes in the economy, industry, employment, and lifestyle, have shifted the city's economic hubs and ushered in growth on the outskirts. Vacant and abandoned spaces of squares remote from pedestrians moving, wide surfaces of parking lots that ring the center of big cities and block the interaction between business hubs and residential regions are examples of lost spaces. the rarely-used lands without ownership along highways abandoned spaces on the sides of channels, space around railways, vacant military sites, and industrial complexes moved to the city's periphery to have better access and possibly pay less tax, the remaining space between commercial edges with an irrelevant combination created as a result of citizens lake of awareness In general, urban lost spaces are seen as substandard and unsuitable sections of the city that have no beneficial effects on the places and people • The increased reliance on vehicles has resulted in the development of roads, roadways, and crossing divides in historic textiles. • The tendency of modern architects to build open and vast rooms • Zoning and land-use rules connected to urban renewal can result in urban divisions. • The unwillingness of today's governmental and private corporations to commit to and be accountable for public areas. • Relinquishing industrial, military, or commercial areas in the city's center. Among the foregoing reasons, auto dependency plays the most important role in causing these issues. Because this long-standing issue has had such a profound impact on human existence, its effects may be seen in metropolitan areas such as highways, major roadways, and parking lots. As movement and communication become more dominant in public space, many cultural meanings and human aspirations are lost. Cars and storage have taken up a considerable portion of the area in contemporary cities. As a result, isolated buildings surrounded by broad roadways without concern for needed pedestrian use serve as a communication component without concern for social values Roger Trancik proposes some principles for improving the quality of the urban environment and urban stability based on the spatial perspective. He argues that amorphous, random, and remaining spaces should be replaced with positive and meaningful places. To solve the difficulty of urban spaces, in particular, it is necessary to consider five factors: the surrounding of spaces, the continuity of edges, and viewpoint, as well as mixed inside and outside spaces.
The model of lost space
Since 1986, several academics have studied a specific kind of lost space and have proposed a variety of definitions and interpretations, including loose space, cracks, unoccupied, in-between, transitional, liminal, neglected spaces, deteriorating, and ambiguous space (Table 1). Trancik used the phrase "lost space" to characterize places that need to be redesigned, antispaces that have no beneficial impact on their surroundings or users. A remaining unconstructed landscape or inadequately managed area, according to Trancik, is lost space. It is an unfavorable urban place that develops by chance during the planning stage.
1974 Sommer Tight space, hard space Provides the opportunity for a variety of activities that are unconnected to space's initial intended purpose. 1986 Roger Trancik Lost space Space has no beneficial effect on the environment or humans. 1996 Loukaitou- Sideris Cracks in the city Spaces that have been abandoned and allowed to decay, eventually getting clogged with rubbish and human waste. 2001 Hajer and Reijndorp In-between spaces As an ephemeral item, a site – which is both space and a prospective future, as well as a collection of disparate activities. 2007 Franck and Steven Loose space Spaces that only allow specific restricted activities that are unrelated to space's original architectural purpose.
Definitions of lost space by various scholars.
Car parking, the edge of roads constructed without maintenance and administration, under elevated roads, the base of high-rise towers, overhead bridges, abandoned waterfronts, underutilized subterranean plazas, decommissioned military locations, and deteriorating parks are all examples of lost space. Trancik contends that the auto, urban redevelopment, privatization of public space, functional separation of purposes, and the contemporary movement are all to blame for the creation of lost spaces. Lost spaces or leftover spaces are generally located between two buildings, in front, on the sides, or at the back of structures, and on roofs, to place greater focus. Values and meanings, functions, and a feeling of belonging are all lost in these environments. Leftover spaces, which are normally public but have no designated use, are often seen adjacent to spaces with fixed and limited purpose [9]. Spaces underneath bridges and beside roadways are examples. As seen in Figure 1, they live beyond the bounds of structured social space, have no defined function, and generally lack traditionally attractive qualities.
Figure 1: Unexpected and unplanned activities such as companies and parking lots are examples of unused spaces in metropolitan regions.
Tibbalds argued that the lost space affects how we experience the city, contributing to undesirable views such as rotting garbage, graffiti, illegal activities, polluted, unsafe, congested by traffic, full of mediocre and ugly poorly maintained buildings, and populated by homeless people living in cardboard boxes at night. Furthermore, the ambiguous territoriality of these places creates physical and psychological obstacles, resulting in a negative user experience and a gap between new and old uses, structures, and activities. Failure to address modest symptoms of disintegration in a city might result in a fast cycle of deterioration. For example, Malaysia's rapid construction of elevated motorways as a "cost-effective" solution to traffic congestion in large cities has a negative impact on the aesthetical, ecological, historical, and recreational characteristics. The worst occurrence is that elevated roadways isolate neighborhoods, causing the urban population to feel marginalized in the development process. In her essay "Cracks in the City," Loukaitou-Sideris defines cracks as "in-between areas, residual, under-utilized, and frequently degrading." The situation of many plazas, car parks, parks, and public housing estates, where abandonment and decay have filled unoccupied space with human waste and litter, is also due to bad management. What is the best way to explain the causes that contribute to the loss of space? According to Trancik, four primary causes are leading to lost space: rising reliance on automobiles, (ii) contemporary design movements, (iii) land use zoning rules, and (iv) urban authorities' and designers' inability to take responsibility for the public realm. The increased reliance on automobiles has forced the city shape to shift throughout time. Streets are no longer necessary urban pedestrian open areas. Highways, thoroughfares, and parking bays, which are regarded to be the most common forms of open resulting in vast swaths of unoccupied land. Buildings have become more practical and useful as a result of the modern movement; nevertheless, spaces between buildings are seldom considered by architects and planners, who prefer to treat the structure as a formal entity apart from its surroundings. Architects and urban planners in the twentieth century failed to comprehend pedestrian demands and desires for space. As a consequence, what was formerly an organization's outward environment is increasingly becoming a private internal environment of the business (Peterson, 1980).
CAUSES OF THE “LOST SPACE”
In five major aspects of the lost regions, Roger Trancik examines and discusses the reasons for being "Lost." Main five major factors contribute to the loss of space: 1. Increasing reliance on automobiles daily 2. The propensity of modernist design to create open areas. 3. In the restoration of the cities, zoning and land-use legislation resulted in their split into distinct cities. 4. A lack of enthusiasm for modern public and private groups' commitments and responsibilities in the city's public areas. 5. In the inner city, enclosed workshops, barracks, or abandoned terminals.
Under Managed Spaces: A Theoretical Approach
In 1986, when Trancik studied a specific type of under-managed space, the so-called lost space (Carmona, 2010), many studies have delved deeper into the subject, providing numerous definitions and interpretations such as loose, liminal, vacant, in-between, transitional, indeterminate, free, neglected spaces. In most situations, although offering some minor semantic distinctions, these definitions have added to the subject's confusion. Simultaneously, these definitions have delved into the intricacies and, in some respects, have focused only on the reasons and changes that underpin the phenomena. However, the focus should not be only on the factors that contribute to the loss of space. Following this in-depth examination of the reasons, it's time to consider what may be done with such places, namely their potentials and prospects for regeneration that they provide to today's metropolis. The contribution's initial section seeks to identify and organize the many definitions so many writers have explored the problem of poorly maintained places. Trancik used the phrase "lost spaces" to characterize "spaces in need of re-design, anti-spaces that make no constructive contribution to their surroundings or users" (Trancik, 1986; p. 3):
Figure 2: an example of lost space
In 1986, when Trancik studied a specific type of under-managed space, the so-called lost space (Carmona, 2010), many studies have delved deeper into the subject, providing numerous definitions and interpretations such as loose, liminal, vacant, in-between, transitional, indeterminate, free, neglected spaces. In most situations, although offering some minor semantic distinctions, these definitions have added to the subject's confusion. Simultaneously, these definitions have delved into the intricacies and, in some respects, have focused only on the reasons and changes that underpin the phenomena. However, the focus should not be only on the factors that contribute to the loss of space. Following this in-depth examination of the reasons, it's time to consider what may be done with such places, namely their potentials and prospects for regeneration that they provide to today's metropolis. The contribution's initial section seeks to identify and organize the many definitions so that they may be better understood in connection to the study hypothesis. There is a large body of literature on the physical deterioration of places, and many writers have explored the problem of poorly maintained places. Trancik used the phrase "lost spaces" to characterize "spaces in need of re-design, anti-spaces that make no constructive contribution to their surroundings or users" (Trancik, 1986).
From the standpoint of the leftover space's enthusiasm, its presence affects; if it is entirely occupied regardless of the conditions, it will undoubtedly bring comparable difficulties and effects; these issues and influences are in the following aspects:
The urban traffic
Bicycles and walking will be welcomed to a considerable degree by the city as commute distances are reduced, allowing for the development of a variety of energy-saving modes of transportation. However, since it is vital to have lines to facilitate traffic movement, using the remaining space may create issues. The next generation's flow lines will interact with the city's flow lines, and even urban roads may interfere with the flow line. This is also how to make use of unused space, and spatial reuse design sets higher standards.
Influence of spatial comfort ability
Controlling space in a reasonable comfort range is a challenge that should be considered while considering how to repurpose unused space in the city. If urban space is fully utilized, it is almost certain that density will increase, and human activity in a given region will increase as well. The per capita space will shrink, the city will become crowded, and the comfort of human activity will be reduced, and the result may be worse than the state before utilization. This necessitates that we consider the relationship between human activity and comfortability while repurposing urban space, rather than simply the remaining space and that we should not seek density without considering how people feel. It also demonstrates that using vacant land is not a process that is just focused on land conservation and urban density while disregarding the process of comfortability.
Consideration of reserve land
As the human body metaphor suggests, urban leftover space is likewise an important aspect of the city's performance. The link between comfort and the same attitude toward the use of spare space should not be seen as merely filling available resources; it is required to preserve a certain amount of leftover space in an underused condition to manage the city. This huge metropolitan complex requires land set aside for future development to provide open space, green spaces, and other ways; this necessitates a thorough discussion of the applicability of usage before we have already curtained about the need for re-use. "Human activity is usually the urban motif." Normally, pedestrians have turned away from the space beneath the elevated road. And looks to be a dark, lifeless area, but owing to its geographical location, people would be drawn to participate in the activity, particularly if the environment was well managed. As a result, space exploration research must be linked to human behavior. There are some successful examples of reutilization of leftover spaces in cities
Figure 3: collecting rooms under the highway Figure 4: space under the highway used as parking for confiscated vehicles
Figure 5: Using space for children education
Figure 6: Toronto's underpass park
CONCLUSION
We've concluded that getting a design conversation process, whether it's about urbanism or architecture, is critical. The acknowledgment of lost areas, as well as the relationship between architecture and urbanization and their reciprocal effects, are discussed in these conversations. During this study, a variety of definitions and interpretations of lost spaces by various academicians was looked into, including loose space, cracks, unoccupied, in-between, transitional, liminal, neglected spaces, deteriorating, and ambiguous spaces (Table 1). Trancik used the phrase "lost space" to characterize places that need to be redesigned, antispaces that have no beneficial impact on their surroundings or users lost spaces were classified and our study informs us on causes of formation of lost spaces and how to make use of such unoccupied spaces, such as the area underneath the elevated road. Many additional requirements have arisen, such as charging facilities for hybrid electric vehicles. While the local government is attempting to provide more charging stations, it seems that the space underneath the elevated road has not been completely used.
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Corresponding Author Shreya Kataria*
Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, IPS Academy, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India ar.shreyajain@gmail.com