'Terrain Vague' / Economics

Ones perception of a space begins with what one sees.  By way of perception we receive signals and impulses that steer our opinion of things, of specific places in a particular direction. (Ignasi)   

Abandoned spaces, or vacancies, are occurrences that seem to take control of our eye and direct opinions of neighborhoods socially.  Economically, vacancies induce declining property values for their surroundings.  “…researchers from Philadelphia found that houses within 150 feet of a vacant or abandoned property experienced a net loss of $7,627 in value.  Properties within 150 to 300 feet experienced a loss of $6,819 and those within 300 to 450 feet experienced a loss of $3,542.” (Vacant Properties)

This somewhat shows the process I am defining as ‘societal construction.’  We perceive spaces to be degraded socially; this then translates economically, degrading property values.  A vacancy then, has no presence either socially or economically.  If it has no presence, then what is it and what can it become?

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‘Terrain Vague’

Terrain – the first instance of ground fit for construction.

Vague 1 – movement, instability, fluctuation

Vague 2 – vacuous, empty, unoccupied

Terrain Vague – void as a space fit for movement

Vague 3 – indeterminate, blurred, uncertain

Terrain Vague – void, fit for uncertain movement

Terrain Vague –a void, fit for presence

Yes, it’s kind of a paradox that may not make any sense but as I’ve stated earlier, ‘vacancies do not provide the results we expect from architecture, instead acting as spaces of disorder that serve as a critique of regulated urban space.’

 "... we are talking here of politics for the individual in conflict with himself, desolately despairing at the rapidity with which the whole world is transformed, and nevertheless aware of the need to live together with others, with the other." (Ignasi)

Vacancy is a void waiting for something to happen; it’s in conflict with itself.  Economics and society have left it behind, have created it; but both are what it needs to become a presence within a neighborhood again.  Architecture can facilitate this process.

This poses a significant question

"How can architecture act in the terrain vague without becoming an aggressive instrument of power and abstract reason"? (Ignasi)

How can architecture act within vacancies without becoming what vacancies are wholly contradictory to?  How can architecture act within vacancies without defining that vacancy as a new regulated urban space?  How can it act as something that critiques it instead?

(I’m not even sure if the questions make sense to me right now.  Most likely the question and it’s logic needs to be clarified)

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Sola-Morales, Ignasi. "Terrain Vague." Anyplace. Ed. Cynthia Davision. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995. 118-23.

“Vacant Properties: The True Cost to Communities.” National Vacant Properties Campaign Report, 2005