Dysfunctional space
Dysfunctional open space is a technical term from open space planning and describes places that are neither clearly functionally bound and therefore leave room for a variety of uses, nor are spontaneous use dominated by certain user groups. The term is controversial because dysfunction in medicine describes a deficient organ function, i.e. falls into a clinical picture. However, dysfunction has a different meaning in connection with free space .
Definition
Usage commitment
In open space planning, the term presupposes that open spaces can be more or less functionally bound. The open spaces that are not functionally bound are also called “no man's lands” because they are at least temporarily not used by any interest groups and informal users (e.g. children, young people, homeless people) are not expelled there even if they leave permanent traces. Since each free space can be used differently and the intensity of use in a free space is unevenly distributed, one speaks of dysfunctional parts in used or functionally determined free spaces such as z. B. Gardens and streets.
Appearance
Dysfunctional open spaces can often be found on fallow areas in the city that are not used again because of their unfavorable location or have not yet been used. However, they are also located at borders and transition zones between different used areas (e.g. in the form of green spaces as open spaces), on which the intensity of use decreases towards the edges. The intensity of use on areas is expressed, for example, in spontaneous vegetation, which decreases towards the edges in open spaces that are used and can grow flat in open spaces that are no longer used. The development of vegetation creates the characteristic images of dysfunctional open spaces with tall herbaceous vegetation and bushes, depending on the age of the fallow areas.
Reusability
The at least partial dysfunction is an essential characteristic of open spaces, which offer the user room for maneuver and enable them to interpret other interpretations of how open space should be used in the future. An open space without dysfunctional components would be a monofunctional facility that cannot be reinterpreted in the event of new usage requirements and therefore has to be torn down to provide space for new buildings. For example, many social and economic problems that urban politics are facing today also result from the separation of functions: living, working, recreation and traffic in modern urban planning. Similar phenomena can also be found in agriculture and industry.
literature
- Lucius Burckhardt 1985: No man's lands . In: The children eat their revolution; Cologne 1985.
- Helmut Böse 1981: The appropriation of urban open spaces . Working reports from the Department of Urban and Landscape Planning at the University of Kassel; Booklet 22; Kassel 1981.
- Gerhard Hard 1998: Ruderal vegetation . Notebook of the Kassel school ; Vol. 49; Kassel 1998.
- Bernd Harenburg, Reto Mehli & Ingeburg Wannangs 1991: Open space planning investigation of a proven model using the example of a dysfunctional open space . In: From house to house; Notebook of the Kassel school ; Vol. 23; Kassel 1991.
- Georg Heinemann & Karla Pommerening 1989: Structure and use of dysfunctional free spaces . Notebook of the Kassel school ; Kassel 1989.