Mapping contested sites: Permanence of the Temporary

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper will discuss ideas of social sustainability in urban design in multicultural contested sites. It will focus on the potential of the re-reading of the “site” through mappings that represent the lived space of the neighbourhood. Using a bottom up approach, the methodology of mapping acts as a process of disassembling, and as a mechanism to re-examine space and place by searching for the invisible and the non-measurable, understanding the site through its detailed inhabitation patterns. The significance of this study lies in the use of mapping as an active form of thinking rather than a passive process of representation that allows for a new site to be discovered, giving multiple opportunities for adaptive urban strategies and socially engaged design approaches. We will discuss the above thematic based on the chosen contested site of Mouttalos, a small Turkish Cypriot neighbourhood, in the old centre of Paphos, SW of Cyprus.
Research methodologies use the process of mapping in order to register the site through the subjective experiences, and everyday stories of inhabitants, a series of cartographic recordings reveals the space between: happening and narrative and especially space between different cultures and religions. Research put specific emphasis on engaging the public, promoting social interaction, identifying spatial patterns of occupation by previous inhabitants through social media.
Findings exposed three main areas of interest. Firstly we identified inter-dependent relationships between permanence and temporality, characterised by elements such us, signage through layers of time, past events and periodical street festivals, unfolding memory and belonging. Secondly issues of co-ownership and occupation, found through particular narratives of exchange between the two communities and through appropriation of space. Finally formal and informal inhabitation of space, revealed through the presence of informal shared back yards, alternative paths, porous street edges and formal and informal landmarks.
The importance of the above findings, was achieving a shift of focus from the built infrastructure to the soft network of multiple and complex relations of dependence and autonomy. Proposed interventions for this contested site were informed and led by a new multicultural identity where invisible qualities were revealed though the process of mapping, taking on issues of layers of time, formal and informal inhabitation and the “permanence of the temporary”.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)999-1006
Number of pages7
JournalICSAUD 17th international conference: Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design
Publication statusPublished - 2015

Keywords

  • contested sites, Paphos,mapping, social sustainability, temporary urban strategies

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