REVITALIZATION OF DEAD SPACE

DEAD SPACE Throughout the urban environment there are pockets of spaces that deter the opportunity of social interaction. The spaces that are being referred to are called “Dead Spaces.”

According to Tetsuya Umeda, a Japanese artist, dead space, “tends to emerge from the gap between what was envisioned for a building before it was constructed, and what was deemed necessary for it while the building was actually being used you might find that there is a lot of dead space within architecture that has been sloppily conceived.”

According to Umeda, dead spaces are the result of poor planning. Developers, planners, or architects create buildings that do not flow within the existing built environment creating pockets of space, which are devoid of human occupancy. Conversely, dead spaces can be well planned and thought out, yet not as successful as originally intended. In these cases, the space can be highly occupied, yet devoid of any social interaction.

In his works Umeda creates live performances in order to bring the audience attention to the surrounding space. To further clarify the definition, “dead space” is space within the built environment that is devoid of social interaction between people. Dead space can be further defined by breaking it down into three terms- Interstitial space, Urban Cracks and Non-place. pg. 8