Anphi-nomy: a creative relationship between cities and heterotopias

The contribution refers to a series of researches about cemetery space and inner areas, exploring possible expansions about the dichotomy “autonomy” (from Greek, autos – means “self”, – nomos means “rule”) and “heteronomy” (from Greek, hetero- means “other”). An intersection of these themes has found the opportunity to be investigated in the project developed for the ideas competition “Non Architecture Competition: Dying, alternative designs for cemeteries”. Reflecting about forms, meanings and role of the cemetery space in the contemporary landscape, an opportunity was glimpsed also to find out answers to the long-standing problem of abandoned inner areas reasoning about the autonomy and heteronomy that govern the relationships between the city and some marginal landscapes identifiable in a transcalar perspective. In this contribution inner areas are considered heterotopias in the same way as cemeteries. Heterotopias – according to the foucaultian meaning – are autonomous by definition and structured on their own rules. When they cease their activity, heterotopias become heteronomous, since they are considered referring to the city rules (-nomos) and not anymore to their own rules. Nowadays, only a project based on a creative thought aimed to define an “anphinomy” (from Greek, anphi- means “on both side”) can change the state in which this legacy is. Anphinomy will refer to a biunivocal and equal relationship among the parts without imposition of the rules of one of the two subjects. The Inner Park project focus on the anphinomy between the city and those heteronomous heterotopias. Urban and rural areas as well as “the city of the living” and “the city of the dead” are two pairs of landscapes that must be considered complementary and not alternative. Inner Park is a pretext, a futuristic proposal set in 2050. The project defines a park of “lost things” – people, places, histories – consisting of Italian inner areas dedicated to inner life that seems to find no more place in the hyper-dense urban. In this futuristic scenario, the gentrification of the city finds a complementary and necessary double in the inner areas. Inner Park is proposed as an “anphinomous” system recognizing its otherness, as an identity value statement, not comparable with the city identity but complementary to that, so necessary and worthy of being valued. The project proposal could be both a “double heteronomy” and a “conscious autonomy”, therefore a “connected heterotopia”.