Reserve Spaces in the (post)War Period – White Places on Urban Mental Map of the City of Nitra
Abstract: The output of the presented research is the result of mapping white spaces in the regional city of Nitra, Slovakia. In the 20th century, the city underwent a fundamental modification, which was influenced by two world wars, the regulation of the Nitra River and the period after the Second World War, when the city experienced a stormy construction development. However, Nitra was most marked by the raids of Soviet bombers at the end of the Second World War in 1945, followed by a significant modification of the urban structure with its streets, blocks, and squares. This event resulted in the forced sanitation of several valuable objects or entire urban blocks and, together with the onset of the new regime, resulted in the creation of the current white spaces in the city center – local losses of urban matter (compact urban structure). Such spaces are a barrier to the civilized world and in the urban structure they function as public spaces without the presence of the public. They are errors in the planning process and the result of ignorance of the current state and the related loss of cultural heritage and cultural memory. The research deals with the non-original introduced functions of white spaces and illustrates the system of their mapping and sorting into the working database according to typology, character, and property relations. The presented contribution also uncovers, positively recognizes the hidden potential, and interprets the possibilities of reintegration of lost and forgotten places into the urban fabric through ephemeral invasive interventions of a diverse media nature. Such undemanding impulses are an effective tool to reveal dysfunctional urban structures with the offer of their temporary use.
