In the contemporary city, the spaces between buildings—neither fully public nor private—represent latent opportunities for fostering accessibility, social inclusion, and environmental resilience. This paper investigates the potential of these intermediate spaces to function as inclusive thresholds, capable of hosting everyday life and enhancing urban quality, particularly in socio-spatially vulnerable contexts. Starting from a critical reflection on urban space as a relational and dynamic entity, the research explores the role of intermediate spaces as spatial devices that mediate between domestic interiors and the collective domain.
The study is grounded in the case of Besòs and Maresme, two peripheral neighborhoods in Barcelona marked by aging public housing stock, environmental fragility, and social inequality. Here, the winning proposal of the Europan E17 competition has triggered a collaboration with the Municipality of Barcelona, aimed at regenerating the interstitial urban voids as part of a broader urban improvement plan. The design process redefines accessibility not merely as the removal of physical barriers, but as a fundamental right and spatial practice embedded in a universal design approach.
Through a dual methodology—combining theoretical inquiry and project-based experimentation—the paper frames the intermediate space as a device with three interrelated dimensions: (1) an accessibility device, improving urban legibility and walkability through gentle topographies and direct connections to homes; (2) an inclusion device, promoting proximity, everyday encounters, and community belonging through shared thresholds and lived-in edges; and (3) an environmental device, integrating vegetation, shade, and microclimate strategies to mitigate heat and support outdoor activities for all ages.
