ABSTRACT
Based on the descriptions within the publication Pardié, in which a mapping method of spaces has been introduced, the chapter examines the meaning of boundaries and the matter of thresholds. In the described mapping method, borders are categorized on the one hand as active boundaries and on the other hand as passive boundaries. This chapter builds on that description and reveals in which form several categories of boundaries appeared and how they have been transformed. On the basis of an interdisciplinary view of boundaries and thresholds, the chapter revisits four forms of boundaries: structural, administrative, habituated, and spatial. Keeping this classification of boundaries as the basis of its narration, the chapter presents a discussion focusing on the relationship between the bodily and the spatial effect of boundaries. The chapter assumes that part of the quality of thresholds lies in their ambiguity. The specificity of a place thus emerges as one of the parameters for creating urban spaces. Formal criteria such as legibility, permeability, and adaptability subsequently become relevant to the success of a spatial composition. The chapter concludes with an emphasis on the need to revisit the matter of thresholds in future urban studies.
