Inter-neighbourhood transitional space : an examination of its incident in placemaking with special reference to transitional spaces between "neighbourhood-units"

Abstract

Transitional spaces existing between neighborhood units are essential facts of communal existence that have, in the past, unknowingly contributed towards creating the indispensable spatial links in the environment. These links then accomplished the integration of the smaller neighborhood units in to a large whole through the cues implied, to enable greater awareness and deeper understanding of one another’s' cultural mindset. Consequently such an understanding allowed them to exist peacefully free of conflicts. In the contemporary scene, however, the inter-neighborhood transitional spaces have become a mere function of emotion, an ordeal, instead of a wonderful spatial experience. Their potentials have been severely undetermined. Their neglect in due course has succeeded in alienating the urban dweller from his neighborhood, forcing him to become a strange in his own landscape. The study is then an attempt to reveal the importance of the inter-neighborhood transitional space within the main realms of objective space, which is described as a changing dimension. It is further perceived as a centre, an enclosure and a continuation that would serve to enhance the place making process. Many a social complication has surfaced because of the negligence and failure to recognize the importance of this link as an asset to modern urban living spaces. The necessities for an urban context in which the marvelously inventive solutions are viable therefore still await acceptance.