Terrain Vague 2.0. La selva urbana come evoluzione degli spazi relitti. Da J.G. Ballard ad Instagram

Participation in the Selve Urbane: percorsi di ricerca seminar is part of a broader reflection that sees the jungle as an evolution of the terrain vague, a term coined by Man Ray in 1932 to describe an unresolved and marginal space within the urban landscape. This paper begins ideally from an image, published by leading online architecture and design magazines in January 2021, and from two older texts I first came across in the late ’90s, recently rediscovered through my digressions surrounding the theme of the jungle. Both volumes, despite their differences, suggest actions and methods that can become an integral and operational element of research, underlining both the need to move and orient oneself in the jungle, and the need to provide useful tools for the creation of a guide. The starting point – but also pretext – is a depiction of the city of Chi- cago by French photographer Fabien Barrau, portrayed as a tropical jungle invaded by the wild nature that has commandeered its skyscrapers.