ABSTRACT
A container is a special type of object that can hold something. It has an inside, an outside, and a separation between the two. Our body is the first container that we experience, as we understand that our skin defines our physical boundary and separates ourselves from things around us. While our knowledge of containment starts with physical experiences, we use the same knowledge for abstractions such as events, phenomena, states, ideas, organisations, and territories. In urban design, any type of information that can be spatialised with a perceived boundary suggesting an inside and an outside is understood as a container. Containment can also produce separation. We consider the spaces defined by two containers, or the space inside rather than outside a container, to be different from each other. Containment can be found at multiple scales, as well as in overlapping and nested conditions.
