Not built lots of townhouses: from interstice to indeterminacy

Joana Fernandes

This research work aims at studying the not built lots of townhouses in the city of Braga, namely a meaningful sample in the territory of the parish of Gualtar. It is a reflection that intends to interface the written, the photographic and the drawn interpretations of the space so as to deepen the knowledge about these spaces, trying to understand their significance, how they appear and which impact they have on the territory. Noting that the allotments are projected as a ‘finished product’, we suggest to consider them under a new perspective, structured according to the distinctive characteristics of the not built lots, namely the fact that, firstly, they are interpreted as interstices, town objects, represented and registered through a camera lens; secondly, they are deepened as suspended spaces immersed in a territory with a complex aggregate of transformation projects. Here, we must consider ‘time’ as a fundamental dimention for the understanding of this problematic. Drawing reveals itself as a central research tool where we see, through the analysis of the territory profile type, three stages of transformation: Appropriating, Cultivating and Urbanizing. We conclude with a reflection about indeterminacy where we realize how it is applied to the study of not built lots, showing its high potentiality.