Walls: in-between places, uses, and utilities

Abstract

Walls are fundamental constituent elements of urban spaces, when setting or determining designs, uses and flows in the city. They are viewed in a predominantly negative way by space scholars, due to their segregating nature: they function as a division of areas, but also of realities; prevent access; harass the user to the point of making their appropriation of space impractical. But is there an underestimated potentiality in those components? This paper seeks to understand the influences of the walls in the urban quotidian, pointing out their role in the weaving of the city and their virtuality that instigates in diverse ways different social groups, classifying themselves as in-between places.