Faraone Intermitentt Cities

Intermittent Cities
On Waiting Spaces and How to Inhabit Transforming Cities
Claudia Faraone and Andrea Sarti tap into the potential of the
transient contemporary city, which is incessantly growing and evolving.
By networking a series of sites – either officially or unofficially
awaiting development – they provide the city of dispersal with a highly
dynamic, ready-made urban culture.
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Contemporary cities, especially their dispersed parts, tend to surrounding territories and regenerate their interiors in a
change and grow incessantly. The phenomenon of city sprawling continuous cycle of building on undeveloped areas and reuse
characterised the second half of the 20th century and became of existing urban terrains.
so widespread and powerful that it has shifted the way cities Exemplary results of this process can be clearly found
were traditionally organised, from well-contained urbanities within the European territory, where different types of
to the dispersed territories we live in today. sprawling cities, produced by different economic, social and
The industrial progress in building constructions, the political conditions, compose an even yet small-grained entity.
development of technology and communication, the mass Looking at a satellite image of the European territory, we
diffusion of individual privately owned cars, and the recognise the Dutch structured dispersion or the Flemish
transformation of the heavy-industry based economy into a diamond and, further south, the mixed diffused city of the
service one, together made cities spill out beyond their Veneto region of northeast Italy.
Four different examples of waiting spaces:

Top: Near a construction site but disconnected from the surrounding urban transformation, on the edge of a development in Marcon.
Upper middle: Beside a productive and commercial area, close to an exchange parking lot and a bus stop in Mogliano Veneto.
Lower middle: Disused bus depot in Mestre.
Bottom: Close to a residential area, within a consolidated neighbourhood in Marghera.
Claudia Faraone and Andrea Serti, Intermittent Cities: On Waiting Spaces and How to
Inhabit Transforming Cities, Veneto, Italy, 2004
Map of waiting spaces in a portion of the dispersed city in the Veneto region (the so-called
citta diffusa, or diffused city) between Venice-Mestre, Mogliano Veneto and Marcon. The
waiting spaces will build on the existing infrastructure of roads, cycle paths, exchange
parking lots and bus lines to create an interconnected network.
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Spatial configurations depending on waiting space availability and location.
A duration sequence in the network of waiting spaces.
Spatial configuration of modular units according to different activities. For

each waiting space, a series of spatial configurations is made possible
depending on how much time is available, the location of the space and the
requested activities. Each is provided with a city info-point or a modular unit
situated at the entrance to the waiting space, and a basic, self-sustainable
infrastructure as a possible means of ‘awakening’ the space (for example,
parking lots with solar panels).
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Among the outcomes of this consuming and recycling of
the territory, an emerging kind of urban space can be
recognised: ‘waiting spaces’ – a definition that comes from
their main characteristic of standing empty or unused, and
therefore waiting, while their immediate surroundings are
growing, evolving and being used.
On the one hand, waiting spaces are areas that belong to
expanding portions of the city that have never been used but
in which it is nevertheless predictable that a transformation
will occur. These can be found in peripheral commercial centres
and new city extensions around Mestre and Venice city, or in
contested urban spaces such as Piazza Freud in Milan.
On the other hand, waiting spaces can be found in
abandoned structures and places now ready to be used again:
the ACTV bus storage in Mestre, or beyond the Veneto region
Battersea Power Station in London.
Interpreting the dispersed city as composed of intermittently
functioning waiting spaces, a new design approach can be
applied to the portions of urban territory that are in the time
span: just before their turning on or soon after their turning
off. Since they have the ability to re-create themselves
endlessly, waiting spaces can provide a temporal shelter for
urban activities that are temporary or cannot take place
inside the canonical productive system of contemporary cities.
This newly imagined

intermittent city will be
produced by temporally
networking a series of waiting
spaces at the scale of the
urban region, using the
existing infrastructure of
roads, bicycle paths, exchange
parking lots and bus lines,
and using wireless
technologies and self-
While preparing the Intermittent Cities project, we observed and participated
in similar projects that were a real test of the short-term organisation
necessary for a waiting space. One of these was organised by Esterni, a
sufficient energies.
sociocultural association that promotes non-profit public and cultural
activities in Milan. In Piazza Freud, near Garibaldi station, and running parallel
to Milan Design Week 2004 for 10 days, this waiting space was ‘turned on’,
This newly imagined intermittent city will be produced by
with concerts, performances, university classes and public lectures, temporally networking a series of waiting spaces at the scale
reclaiming the space. of the urban region, using the existing infrastructure of roads,
bicycle paths, exchange parking lots and bus lines, and using
wireless technologies and self-sufficient energies.
As a continuously changing entity, the intermittent city
can be switched on or off, assembled or dismantled based on
demand. ‘Catching’ intervals of time will allow for a
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This constantly updated online database of available waiting spaces can map
possible locations and works in coordination with the Venice municipality’s
urban planning website. Acting as a territorial interface, it allows single users
and small public/private institutions such as art galleries, cultural
associations, libraries and community associations to contribute towards
building a collective urban and cultural awareness across the territory.
temporary transformation of waiting spaces into public

spaces: from a matter of fact to an urban design proposition.
Individuals, groups of individuals or small collective
entities will be given the opportunity to incrementally build
the ‘software’ needed to produce an urban culture for the
dispersed city. Small-scale private or public actions with a
high amenity value will improve waiting spaces by hosting
currently missing urban public activities. Temporal ways of
inhabiting and experiencing the city would be possible inside
these spaces, along with their management and regulation,
through events such as concerts, conferences, sports
performances, as well as public activities and facilities like
playgrounds, art galleries, small satellite libraries, bicycle
sharing points and so on.
Working with mobile and changeable architecture, small
modular units equip the waiting spaces with flexible devices
capable of various spatial configurations to host different
users. Sustainable, self-sufficient elements and
infrastructure will guarantee that the intermittent city will
function, and once a series of activities becomes linked to
the waiting space it will begin to attract other, similar or
A possible testing location for a long-term waiting space is a site in complementary, activities. 4
Campalto, between Mestre and Venice airport. Because of its edge
conditions, near a settlement with few facilities and very close to the airport Note
and the main road to Venice, and with a parking lot nearby, we tested our This project has been developed as part of the authors’ thesis at IUAV,
space configurations by organising them in thematic strips. Artistic, Architecture University of Venice, with Bernardo Secchi as promoter and
recreational, information and promotion strips with different and Stefano Munarin as co-promoter.
complementary levels of activities were used to meet every eventuality:
from art galleries that might need modular units for their satellite
Text © 2008 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images © Claudia Faraone and
exhibitions, to libraries that might need to close their central building for a
Andrea Sarti
while, or the school nearby requiring a new playground for its pupils.
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Faraone Intermitentt Cities

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Intermittent Cities

On Waiting Spaces and How to Inhabit Transforming Cities

Four different examples of waiting spaces:

Spatial configuration of modular units according to different activities. For

This newly imagined

temporary transformation of waiting spaces into public

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