Ways of Seeing, Positions in Time and Place

Exploring the Ever-Changing Urban Landscape

Cities are more than just structures; they are living, breathing organisms that evolve over time. Streets change, buildings rise and fall, and public spaces transform to meet the needs of modern life. But within this constant flux, there are spaces that remain in a state of in-betweenness—what we call liminal places. These are spaces of transition, neither here nor there, existing between past and future, between function and abandon. But what makes these places significant, and why have they been shifting shapes for centuries?

Key Influences and Perspectives

When studying urban infrastructure, it’s not just about roads, buildings, and bridges—it’s about how people experience and interact with the city. Here are a few guiding themes that shape our understanding of urban transformation:

Diversity – Every city holds a multitude of perspectives, histories, and cultures.
Curiosity – What makes a space engaging? What draws people in or pushes them away?
Possibilities – How can urban spaces evolve to better serve their communities?
Resonance – How do places evoke emotions, memories, and a sense of belonging?
Meaning and Purpose – What stories do our cities tell us, and how do we contribute to them?

Nosce te ipsum - Know thyself. Understanding a city starts with understanding its people.

The Memory of Cities: Frances Yates and The Art of Memory

Historian Frances Yates explored the way humans have stored and organized information over time. Her book, The Art of Memory, delves into how ancient cultures used spatial visualization to retain knowledge—just as cities, in a way, serve as physical manifestations of collective memory.

What are we to make of the extraordinary sequence of Giordano Bruno’s works on memory? They all belong closely together, are all interlocked with one another… Are they all traces of the passage through Europe of a prophet of a new religion transmitting messages in a code, the memory code? The seven functions of the nose (1939)

Much like the human mind, a city’s infrastructure is layered with the echoes of the past, constantly overwritten by new developments while still holding onto fragments of what came before.

How dessert cleans the tongue (1943)

Man eats 1400 times his weight in 70 years. (1926)

Mark Lombardi: Seeing Cities as Narrative Structures

Artist Mark Lombardi mapped out the tangled networks of politics, finance, and corruption through intricate diagrams that resembled city maps. His work reminds us that cities are shaped not just by physical structures, but by invisible forces—power, commerce, and social movements.

I call them ‘narrative structures’ because each consists of a network of lines and notations which are meant to convey a story.

Much like a city’s transit system or electrical grid, these hidden connections influence how cities function and evolve.

Liminality and Urban Spaces

Daniel Crooks – Boundary Conditions

Daniel Crooks’ Boundary Conditions explores liminality—the space between past and present, real and virtual. His work uses motion and digital manipulation to blur the boundaries of time and space. Urban environments reflect this same concept: spaces that constantly shift, blend, and redefine themselves.

A doorway is a space between two spaces.

Azabudai Hills: A City Within a City

Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills is a striking example of a modern liminal space. Developed over 30 years, this urban complex merges business, residential life, and culture in one seamless environment. It is designed as a city within a city, where transition between work, leisure, and home life is effortless.

This ambitious project includes:

20,000 employees working in futuristic office spaces.
3,500 residents living in high-rise apartments.
30 million annual visitors exploring shops, museums, and green spaces. Inside the Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower

Roof top view

Green and vast areas for kindergarden

Azabudai Hills is built with sustainability in mind, integrating vast green areas, earthquake-resistant infrastructure, and world-class urban design. Further reading:

Brutalist Liminality in Kyiv

Vernadskyi National Library in Holoseevskii Region

Kyiv’s Vernadskyi National Library and Kyiv Bus Terminal showcase another side of urban liminality—where monumental Soviet-era structures now stand at the crossroads of past and future. These buildings, once symbols of power and progress, now exist in an uncertain space between preservation and reinvention. BRUTALISMUS & CO: KYIV, PT. 2 – ostraum

Brutalist architecture holds a stark beauty, reminding us of the resilience of cities even in the face of change.

Final Thoughts: The Future of Urban Spaces

Urban infrastructure is more than concrete and steel—it’s a reflection of human interaction, memory, and transformation. As cities continue to evolve, the challenge is to design spaces that are both functional and meaningful, places that respect their past while embracing the future.

How can we create cities that are not just sustainable, but also inspiring?

The answer lies in embracing the liminal, the in-between, and the ever-changing. Because in the end, cities—like the people who inhabit them—are never truly complete.