SpreitenbachReappropriation of the Metropolitan Periphery: A Manual for a Public SpaceSebastian Baumann and Ryusei Murata

Since the 50s, people from over 70 nations moved to Spreitenbach. Situated at the border to the Canton of Zurich in the Canton of Aargau, Spreitenbachs political situation and geographical position continuously attracted new inhabitants. Experiencing different vagues of new settlers over time, Spreitenbach became a multi-national place where at this moment more than one out of two inhabitants is a foreigner. Today, this divers mix of people is confronted with a massive flux of visitors, passing by Spreitenbach to use the shopping infrastructure.

In the past, Spreitenbach grew diverse and became more and more attractive for ephemeral shopping-trips. Today, big scale infrastructure-projects make Spreitenbach attractive for investors to built. New built housing units excluding social classes endanger the evolved social fabric. Today in Spreitenbach, this trend is already noticeable.

Two worlds – the metropolitan and the local – are present in Spreitenbach. The two worlds exist separated from each other, touching each other delicately. They stand in a relation of power which hinders the local communities to unfold fully in the build urban fabric.

The main focus of the Shoppi is making money. The people of Spreitenbach can not unfurl in its built existence. Being an highly secured box close to informal local communities, the main goal of the Shoppi are the shoppers coming there only for a short buying experience. In order to reappropriate the Shoppi as a public space for communities in Spreitenbach, seven interventions propose transformations of in-between spaces, influenced by the initial convictions of Victor Gruen.