Intensity without Density

Abstract

Urban density has often been considered one of the main conditions for the emergence of urban intensity, here understood as the potential for endless random and unpredictable interactions between heterogeneous individuals and activities. However, within the expanded territory of the contemporary metropolis, the rise of mobility and communication technology has brought about new possibilities for informal interaction and exchange beyond the traditional relationship of proximity. By combining a multi-scale approach with an understanding of everyday rhythms, the present paper explores: (1) how this unprecedented space-time condition enables the emergence of intensity across low density areas; and (2) the spatial conditions involved in this potential. Empirical research undertaken in a low density Italian area, situated 50 km South of Milan, provides material for illustrating the argument.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1. Density has long been at the centre debate on the contemporary metropolis (Jacobs 1961; Lynch 1984; Koollhaas and Mau 1995; Maas, Van Rijs, and Koek 1998; De Geyter 2002; Oswald and Baccini 2003). It is treated here as a dynamic and qualitative parameter, rather than simply a quantitative ratio. Both the Floor Area Ratio and the number of inhabitants per square kilometre are considered as interesting parameters when associated with other qualitative aspects related to urban form and to everyday rhythms.

^2. The term ‘urban ballet’ refers to “the ballet of the good city sidewalk” described by Jacobs [1961] 1992, 50). It “never repeats itself from place to place, and in any one place is always replete with new improvisations”. This seeming disorder is, in fact, a complex order, “for maintaining the safety of the streets and the freedom of the city”. The peculiar nature of the city, for Jacobs, lies in the balance between a sense of safety and familiarity, and the desire/possibility to engage with strangers. The two are related rather than contrasted: we engage with strangers when we feel safe, although a sense of protection enhances freedom and exchange only when combined with a diverse urban realm.

^3. De Landa's Assemblage Theory has its roots in the notion of ‘the relation of exteriority’ (Deleuze and Guattari 1980): “We can distinguish, for example, the properties defining a given entity from its capacities to interact with other entities. While its properties are given and may be denumerable as a closed list, its capacities are not given—they may go unexercised if no entity suitable for interaction is around—and form a potentially open list … The reason why the properties of a whole cannot be reduced to those of its parts is that they are the result not of an aggregation of the components' own properties, but of the actual exercise of their capacities. These capacities do depend on a component's properties but cannot be reduced to them …” (De Landa 2006, 10–11).

^4. The implications of this multi-scale approach for identity and sense of place will be discussed in the forthcoming paper “Place and Flows: Towards a Becoming Metropolis” (2014).

^5. Italy is an ensemble of 8101 municipalities extending across a surface of 301,336 km²; 72% of these municipalities have fewer than 5000 inhabitants, yet 43.7% of Italians live in such settlements; 22% live in settlements of 5000 to 20,000 inhabitants; 33.8% live in settlements of 20,000 to 100,000; only 0.5% live in settlements with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Source: ISTAT, Census 2001.

^6. Commuter flows data. Source: ISTAT (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica) (2001).

^7. Data collection (population, land area, commuting, tourist flows). Source: ISTAT (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica) (Census 2001).

^8. The term used by mayors and inhabitants during the interviews.

^9. Salice Terme, for example, is not mentioned here as a model of intensity: it is a small settlement (under 1000 inhabitants) characterized by a limited mix of activities mainly related to entertainment and health care. Nevertheless, it is relevant within this study because it highlights how positive synergies can also emerge across a low density urban fabric.

^10. At present, it is mainly the use of private cars that enables temporary concentration beyond the boundaries of a single settlement. In fact, within the case study perimeter, Voghera is the only settlement highly integrated in the railway network. The current bus network, although connecting all the settlements across the province, is not at present a valid and appealing alternative to private mobility within a territory where everyday life develops in transit according to highly unpredictable and irregular movements. A traditional public transport system, although efficient, would probably not suit this distributed metropolis: the low density would not provide a sufficient number of users to support bus trips frequent enough to efficiently connect such a widespread network of centralities. A significant issue, which has not been investigated within this study, certainly concerns an integrated mobility system, able to reduce fuel consumption and polluting emissions, and to assure the same access opportunities for drivers and non-drivers.

^11. These spatial conditions, related to the network of boundaries and connections, are just some of the factors enhancing the emergence of intensity. There are other factors, unexplored here, concerning, for example, urban policies and land management, also crucial for the part–whole dynamic. A space designed as an open precinct (assemblage) can easily become a hierarchical closed system (totality) depending on how it is managed. Furthermore, spatial conditions such as the layout of boundaries and public/private interfaces are widely shaped by a series of rules, concerning, for example, the distance between buildings.

^12. The implications of this approach for design theory and practice will be discussed in the forthcoming paper “Towards a Multi-Scale Approach to Urban Intensification” (2014).