Heterotopias of Urban In-Betweens. Renewing Cities and Rediscovering the Vitality and Resilience of Open Spaces

The outdoor in-between spaces of contemporary cities may be read as the result of a continuous experimentation that society puts in place to generate a provisional order or to make space for activities with times and methods beyond the rules. In these spaces that remember the definition of heterotopias proposed by Foucault, inhabitants build relations with other spaces of the city and at the same time, they dispute their limits, codes, and boundaries. This paper proposes a reflection on these in-betweens, locating in their functional mixité the main collective resources to re-innovate the urban built environment: rediscovering its vitality, its ability to resilience to the external factors, its inclusive attitudes towards internal solicitations. The turning point that can address this transition is probably made up by a new vision of the technological connections between Nature, Individuals and Society that can configure these spaces as “variable technological platforms” with which measure, support and convey the potential differences and the positive tensions existing in the city and among its various parts.