A temporary architecture mediating between public space and the wilderness of urban wastelands.
Vacant building lots often tend to escape general notice. Yet, they create a temporary network of diverse and wild counterparts to the urban order of our cities. Behind sidewalk and fences, in-between leftovers of bricks and rubbish any urban wasteland quickly turns into a hidden habitat for a multitude of plants and living beings. The rapidly growing and robust vegetation not only makes an important contribution to a better urban climate, it also serves as a refuge for birds, lizards, insects, butterflies and many more non-human agents in an otherwise densely built-up environment. These spaces still carry all possibilities of future use in them and hold great potential for a new, surprising and diverse urbanity.
How can the different actors - humans, animals, bacteria and plants - coexist in these shared open spaces? An architectural intervention is proposed on the threshold between city and wilderness. It invites neighbors and passers-by to slow down, take a seat and get to know the unique and surprising ecosystem in vacant building lots. Sharing the fascination of collectively discovering the often overseen but manifold Flora and Fauna in urban wastelands offers possibilities for low-threshold neighbourly encounters - independent of age, sex and social background.
Today’s cities are diverse. Built environments and natural spaces are entangled in a complex, interactive organism. The current crisis highlights once more the need for sustainable as well as inclusive design of public spaces - which is key for the well-being of our society in the confined space of our shared urban environment.
