ABSTRACT
In the sprawling networked city a new typology of places is beginning to emerge.19 Their common characteristics are that they have a variety of modes of public and private accessibility; an overlap of functions, with synergetic and complementary uses both within the node and as part of the wider urban network; and a recognisable image. Such places are forming around events venues (stadia); transport nodes (rail and air); institutions of learning or health; production clusters (e.g. film studios); and retail, leisure complexes. These new focal points have grown rapidly, as a response to market forces, on either ‘greenfield’ sites or from the kernel of an existing use. Their rapid growth has invariably been supported by the availability of large land holdings under single ownership. The outcome has been massive ‘schemes’, ‘instantly developed’ and conceived and executed comprehensively. They are market-driven, rather than user-led; designed to maximise efficiency; and ‘over-functionalised’, with a ‘semi-public’ cocoon. Maarten Hajer and the urban sociologist Arnold Reijndorp, in their work, In Search of New Public Domain,20 perceptively describe the new semi-public spaces that are emerging and the need for a new language. They present ‘place’ as a consumer commodity and the urban field as an archipelago of enclaves. The authors highlight the differences between public spaces: the ‘Urban Realm’, owned and controlled by the city; and the ‘Urban Domain’, or semi-public space, that is privately owned and managed, though perceived and used as public space (e.g. the retail mall, stadium or airport). This public domain is not so much a place as an experience, which fails through over-functionalisation, a lack of authenticity and insufficient diversity. The experience is a themed fantasy, rather than being owned by a dominant culture. The challenge for urbanists, they argue, is to provide ‘more friction please’, a looser fit of functions, and opportunity for connectivity between sub-cultures within a dominant set of values. It is heartening that the Dutch are embracing the phenomenon of the periphery as a key element of our future cities.
