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Urban Resilience: A Study of Leftover Spaces and Play in Dense City Fabric

Author

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  • Alice Covatta

    (School of Architecture, Montreal University, Montreal, QC H3T 1B9, Canada)

  • Vedrana Ikalović

    (Department of Building and Urban Environment, Junia HEI—Graduate School of Engineering, Lille Catholic University, 59000 Lille, France)

Abstract

Cities worldwide are urgently moving towards a more resilient and sustainable future. On this quest, national, regional, and local governments apply a combination of socio-spatial tools that regenerate and transform the city’s leftover spaces. There is an abundance of community gardens, cultural centers, and large-scale urban developments that, through programmed activities, reactivate underused spaces. The bearers of this process are professionals and individuals who have become aware of their actions in the contemporary urban landscape. This paper highlights possible design strategies that domesticate leftover spaces of diverse scales by injecting creative and playful programs, using Tokyo as a paradigmatic case study. More so than other global metropolises, the city represents a living laboratory for experimentation due to its compactness and the variety of urban patterns. Its leftover spaces demonstrate how play positively affects everyday life in public spaces, and how it enables extraordinary uses. A combination of ethnographic observations and spatial analysis is applied as a trans-disciplinary method. This approach allows an understanding of how people use playfulness to transform, appropriate, and utilize leftover spaces, which serves as guidance for urban planners and designers.

Suggested Citation

  • Alice Covatta & Vedrana Ikalović, 2022. "Urban Resilience: A Study of Leftover Spaces and Play in Dense City Fabric," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13514-:d:947191
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kanemoto, Yoshitsugu & Ohkawara, Toru & Suzuki, Tsutomu, 1996. "Agglomeration Economies and a Test for Optimal City Sizes in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 379-398, December.
    2. Nurit Alfasi & Talia Margalit, 2021. "Toward the Sustainable Metropolis: The Challenge of Planning Regulation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mohsen Alawi & Dongzhu Chu & Seba Hammad, 2023. "Resilience of Public Open Spaces to Earthquakes: A Case Study of Chongqing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, January.

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