Urban Voids: A Potential in Tucson's Wasted Spaces

Abstract

In the last decade, urban voids have emerged as a challenge for rapidly urbanizing cities. Especially in the city center where the early city settlement was situated, many urban and industrial functions have moved out leaving behind abandoned and under-utilized spaces. Underutilized and abandoned land in urban areas are often overlooked and neglected, ultimately rendering them as unattractive, dead spaces. Urbanization has led urban life to become dull due to the degrading of the environment and the devoid of space for sociocultural activities. As city populations continue growing, there is an increased pressure to provide open outdoor spaces for inhabitants. Urban Voids are a vital component in the context of social interaction and act as a meeting point to enable people to have direct contact with the society around them. The aim of this study is to understand the urban character of dead spaces within Tucson’s downtown district and identify a wasted space that has the potential to be leveraged into an active space to further enhance and strengthen the public realm.