The Neglected Spaces

Abstract

The current strategies of urban design and development in most European cities are geared towards the densification of existing structures, and to the adaptive reuse of outmoded and centrally located industrial areas. However, despite this instant focus on the historical core, most cities in Europe have been caught up in a state of rapid expansion, which has produced a new kind of urban landscape that rather relates to Dana Cuff’s convulsive urbanism than to the neo-traditional visions of concentric growth.1 Warehouses, terminal buildings, and institutional complexes are mushrooming in the periphery, in conjunction with the proliferation of large residential and commercial districts whose zoning and monolithic structures confirm the continued impact of CIAM urbanism. Indeed, the contemporary European city generally consists of a small, manicured city center surrounded by ever expanding peripheral urbanized spaces, constantly pushing the outer boundaries and blurring the distinction between town and country.