One problem that I see is underutilized spaces. When I spoke at the TedxZagreb event in 2010 this was my platform as the "Huntress of Hidden Potential" I reimagined spaces and the audience was with me but I am not sure what impact it had as I did not move it in any particular direction except to make an awareness building exercise in my entrepreneurship course. The students regularly have to take pictures of places they think could be something as in take a picture of an vacant building, lot, field, etc and reimagine what it could be.
Luckily, Candy Chang and her powerful Ted video on "Before I die, I want to..." really helped to elevate this issue. She also has prepared with a team a toolkit where the community can be more involved in transforming their cities and places and connecting citizens. In our class, we did an experiment during the last session and put on the white board "I wish..." and it was interesting to see the cooperation and resistance of students to share their wishes.
One wish I have is that spaces are fully utilized. Empty spaces to me represent missed opportunities. For every square meter of space underutilized...how many people are equally underutilized? I have selected for my issue of space the large mall complexes that are built and then despite of all the financial investment that goes into them, they quickly turn into vacant "should have beens". This is not just locally which is illustrated with the beautiful, modern, conveniently located Cascade Mall before/after in Zagreb but many others like
New South China Mall, North Street Arcade in Belfast, and the rise of people who are tracking this urban dilemna like www.deadmalls.com, http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/ and other stories of the retail wasteland.
We can choose to look it as a problem or see it as an opportunity to reclaim these underutilized properties like the excellent NYT piece on 101 different ideas for unused malls. Their article featuring (contributors to deadmalls.com) offer examples of reuse for the following purposes:
- Libraries
- Incubators/Accelerators for Small Business Startups
- Educational space, college classrooms and campuses
- Urban clubs and recreational centers
- Non governmental and other civic services organizations
- Mixed use centers for housing, business, religion
Comments from some of the readers of this article include other suggestions like
- Biospheres and Urban Gardens
- After-school programs for kids
- Entertainment complexes (Paintball, Skate parks)
- Food kitchens and Free clinics
- Ethnic and Cultural Centers
- Museums and Exhibition Showcases
- Senior Centers
- Health and Wellness Centers
- Prisons
- Science Centers and Space Labs
What does it get you thinking about?
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