Inventive Uses of Space

When people are not given the necessary infrastructure to meet their needs, they resolve to find alternative ways to satisfy those needs. For the most part, these new uses of space are surprisingly inventive.

But sometimes unsightly...

This is a picture of a public housing project in Alexandria, Egypt. What originated as a large, plain building comprised of tiny studio apartments for families was later adapted by residents to suit their growing needs. As shown above, residents literally expanded their spaces beyond the building's walls by destroying exterior walls and building small balconies with whatever locally available materials they could get their hands on.

And sometimes brilliant...

New York came up with a creative, vertical response to its growing parking demands. By parking cars atop one another, space is best conserved more efficiently and cheaply than constructing parking garages, which require heavy input costs related to excavating and construction.

And sometimes even comical...

This is a picture of cars parked on a tennis court adjacent to a series of residential high-rise buildings in Montreal's Cote-St-Luc neighborhood. This photo sort of sums up how indolent the urban dweller and lifestyle has grown - taking over unused places of healthy activity like tennis courts and using them to park our cars, which only encourage sedentary living. So typical!

Most importantly, I think that these cases demonstrate how truly resilient urban dwellers can be!