public space revival

In a recent post, I shared an article and a few thoughts on the decline of public spaces in the name of privatisation. Today I came across another article in Slate that highlighted instances of a reversal of this trend: private spaces being converted into public spaces.

The article describes how an abandoned former supermarket warehouse was purchased by the City and converted into a public library, with the intent of "establishing a community gathering place." Other such projects have converted abandoned supermarkets into schools, chapels and court houses. 

The buildings that the article describes have been abandoned by businesses in pursuit of bigger spaces. But I can't help but think how with the debris of the financial crisis taking the form of abandoned homes and empty warehouses, this approach holds much promise. 

The article also references this Wikireuse site, which documents community creativity and agency in converting abandoned "corporate real estate" into places for the community. Founder Julia Christensen explains the purpose of the project:

As superstores abandon buildings in order to move into bigger stores, what will become of the walls that they leave behind? It is within the answer to this question that we are seeing the resourcefulness and creativity of communities across the United States, as they struggle to deal with a challenge that is emerging all over the country: the empty big box store. 

Christensen is driven by a desire to change the course of urban development, from cities overrun with large, private corporations, to a future built environment designed with input from communities themselves: 

Big box buildings densely populate the landscape of the United States. Ultimately, we need to change the course of this development, before our land is completely overrun with this corporate, homogenous structure. The structures are environmentally hazardous, as they remove square miles of green space, replace it with impermeable surfaces, and harness the auto-centric culture of one-stop shopping. Unfortunately, we do not have a magic wand with which to wish away existing structures. In fact, they are not easily recyclable ... By looking at how communities are using these structures, and by exploring design issues from the ground up, we can begin to steer the future design of our built environment with informed awareness, as cities and towns learn to regain control over the design decisions that shape the future of their communities. 

Needless to say, I'm a bit of a fan of her project. Not so much because of the 'reclaiming' of public space per se, but because while it is an optimistic project, it's also a highly pragmatic one: starting with what we have, but developing innovative ways to transform this into something of value to the community.

In my first post, introducing this blog, I shared a view that we don't need to go out in search of places of meeting, that we can build them together, to make manifest the world that we wish for right here - in our living rooms, in our parks, in our local markets.

Perhaps Christensen's approach is building on a similar idea - encouraging communities to create places of meeting within the neighbourhoods they are in, using the resources they have - the empty lots and box like buildings. Transforming dull, inutile spaces, where form has been completely subsumed by function, into more vibrant places of meeting, where communities can gather to partake in activities that they have chosen for themselves.

Here are just a few examples from the site: