Transport networks, which structure and connect the territory, frequently produce collateral spaces on their edges, often neglected and unnamed. These residual spaces or wastelands are often threatened by urban regeneration processes. This work focuses on those vacant fragments that might disappear after large-scale transformations, emphasizing their latent possibilities.
Following the notion of ‘terrain vague’, specifically the version explained by Ignasi de Solà-Morales, these undefined spaces are seen as temporary interruptions or interstices where absence of use and expectancy allow for new forms of spatial appropriations. For Solà-Morales, the lack of program and their vagueness gives these spaces their evocative power. Similarly, artist Lara Almarcegui insists on the importance of not designing them, claiming that only by resisting intervention it is possible to activate their true potential. These are places emptied of meaning by the very evolution of the city, but their apparent uselessness becomes a ground for possibility.
As a case study, this paper focuses on the northern area of Madrid and the urban operation known as Madrid Nuevo Norte, a major controversial project that surrounds and transforms the existing Chamartín train station. All high-speed rail services in the country and all commuter lines in the region will converge here. The project, driven by economic ambition and framed under the banner of progress, also envisions a new district including offices, housing, and commercial activity. But while new volumes are inserted, other spaces, those yet undefined, risk disappearing.
This research asks whether it is possible to rethink these marginal areas not as voids to be filled, but as spaces that hold the memory of the neighbourhood and the potential for other ecological narratives. How can the remains be preserved? The aim is not to deny transformation, but to question its limits and to consider what might still be possible in these margins.
Bibliography
- Deleuze, G., Lapoujade, D., & Pardo, J. L. (2005). La isla desierta y otros textos: Textos y entrevistas, 1953-1974. Pre-Textos.
- Ferrando, D. T., & Álvarez, P. V. (2018). La ciudad en la imagen (2ª ed.). Vibok Works.
- Solà-Morales, I. de. (2002). Terrain vague. En Territorios (pp. 181–193). Editorial Gustavo Gili.
