Reclaiming traffic influenced urban residual spaces for the public: special reference to Colombo

Abstract

Although highly populated districts like Colombo, suffer from decrement of open public spaces, there are many unused areas within the city which has not considered for its full potential. It’s observed that most of them are generated due to traffic related issues. The attention given to revitalize them is questionable. Therefore the study aims to identify the possibilities of traffic related urban residual spaces being reclaimed for public use. The study will explore most suitable reclaiming possibilities in selected urban residual spaces. Usage qualities, spatial qualities of existing residual spaces and revitalization possibilities were tested in this study. Data collection was done via questionnaires, interviews and systematic observations. Four cases were selected with variation in its physical layouts and locations in order to represent the traffic related urban residual spaces in Colombo. The study reveals spatial and usage qualities of traffic related residual spaces which vary, mainly due to location type and size of the site; people feel insecure in residual spaces due to vehicular movement and that feeling could be mitigated by physical separations and strategies. Lack of accessibility affects the users to be limited in to a particular category based on gender and age. With reducing the size of the residual space, the reclaim possibility is being changed. Due to traffic movement, most of traffic related spaces has higher visibility, defined site boundaries and it’s a potential for reclaiming. Lack of management and control is the main reasons behind the residual symptoms. Although the traffic related residual spaces have residual symptoms, respondents believed that there is a possibility to reclaiming those spaces for public use. Every residual space has unique appropriation /intervention by users. By evaluating these appropriations it’s possible to select most suitable reclaiming possibility for residual space. Well organized public-private partnerships will help to evade residual symptoms and allow better management and control of reclaimed public spaces