El espacio intermedio como elemento generador de comunidad. Herramienta para su identificación y caracterización

• Autores: Aimar Santos García
• Directores de la Tesis: Fernando Bajo Martínez de Murguía (dir. tes.), Izaskun Aseguinolaza Braga (codir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universidad del País Vasco - Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea ( España ) en 2025
• Idioma: español
• Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Eficiencia Energética y Sostenibilidad en Ingeniería y Arquitectura por la Universidad de Burgos; la Universidad de Vigo y la Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
• Materias:
  • Ciencias tecnológicas
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: ADDI
• Resumen

  • This PhD thesis seeks to address the fact that our cities and built environments do not adequately meet the needs of our daily lives, particularly those related to fostering relationships and community formation. In exploring a potential solution, we identified that in-between spaces play a crucial role in the creation of communities. These spaces form a gradient in terms of privacy, scale, and accessibility. It is this privacy gradient that allows in-between spaces to act as social environments, promoting the construction of caring and secure communities. This observation led us to believe that fostering a network of such spaces could help create more inclusive, caring and community-oriented cities.

    However, we observed that not all spaces within this gradient are vital or inhabited by cohesive communities and we concluded that their design plays a significant role in this regard. Consequently, we decided to study various examples of in-between spaces –or spaces we believe may exhibit in-between character– to identify their defining features.

    The diversity in scale and the range of users of this gradient of spaces required us to adopt different methodological approaches. For smaller, more private in-between spaces, we relied on a literature review to establish the key characteristics that make them vital. To investigate public in-between spaces, we conducted a quantitative study in 49 potential in-between spaces located in 4 urban fabrics.

    For the empirical analysis, we carried out activity mapping and collected physical attributes of each space. We also designed a set of indicators to measure their in-between character based on the presence of specific activities and certain user groups. Once we had gathered data on usage, results of the indicators, and characteristics of each space, we conducted a statistical analysis to relate the indicator results to the physical and usage characteristics of each space.

    In parallel with this quantitative study, we carried out a qualitative study within one of the case studies to complement the findings on the features that contribute to vital in-between spaces and to validate the results of the indicators. We conducted interviews with individuals from various age groups and organised a workshop with children, to capture the views of a diverse community.

    By combining the results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses, we developed two tools: one for identifying in-between spaces and another for advising on the design of such spaces. The design tool provides recommendations for incorporating or avoiding specific physical features based on the scale of the space and the desired character.