Living with the Void: Coexistence, Adaptation, and Acceptance of Urban Emptiness

Abstract

Urban emptiness is a recurring spatial condition across contemporary cities, resulting from long-term planning decisions, functional transformations, and shifting socio-economic dynamics. Urban voids are often interpreted as signs of failure or neglect; however, they also represent flexible and open-ended spaces embedded within everyday urban environments. This study develops and tests the Adaptive Void Assessment Framework (AVAF), a five-dimensional typological instrument applied to n = 33 urban voids identified through a systematic grid-based field survey (100 × 100 m resolution) in the central urban zone of Nitra, Slovakia (March 2025–January 2026). The framework evaluates sites across nine indicators spanning openness, social appropriation, ecological succession, temporal persistence, and institutional flexibility, yielding composite Adaptivity Index scores and four dominant adaptive regimes. The findings demonstrate that 34% of identified voids function in a socially active regime while 14% exhibit ecological dominance, with a moderate positive correlation identified between temporal persistence and adaptive capacity (r = 0.46, p < 0.05). This challenges conventional deficit-based classifications and reframes urban voids as active components of the urban metabolism capable of enhancing ecological connectivity and spatial flexibility within post-industrial urban landscapes. This reframes urban voids from residual outcomes of urbanization to spaces with potential for green integration within sustainable contemporary cities.