Intensity of uses and spatial devices

Abstract

Through the concept of intensity, this chapter intends to propose a different point of view to approach new questions posed by the contemporary urban context, concerning the reactivation and recoding of uses and practices within consolidated city spaces. Today, just as during the “spiritual crisis” of the ‘70s, free plots, abandoned buildings, empty apartments, rooms, roofs, and all the city surfaces become magnets that are able to create additional capacity for the unspoken desires, as able to the visible and invisible characteristics of spaces. In other words, thanks to different practices and phenomena, spaces are re-thought (or re-conceived) as a platform for different possibilities over time. Intensity, rather than density, is a tool capable of showing this potential in a kinetic process. Through an etymological analysis, the interpretation of the role of the project in generating vitality within the urban space. Hereafter, the intensity acts as a key to reveal the potential of space to catalyze un-programmed and free uses not yet conceived thanks to its design and devices. In other words, intensity allow conceving project as a process. All the spaces become a platform for interaction and opportunity—from the house to the city.