The appearance of cities is changing under the influence of capital, which directs and dictates urbanism and the proliferation of new buildings being built without involving the city’s inhabitants and meeting their needs. The open spaces of new architectural interventions are in line with design trends, which – through the principle of “for all residents” – create monotonous spaces where inhabitants do not linger. This is the main topic of strategic discussions. Yet, they never consider autonomous spaces, and in case they do, they usually tend to subordinate them to contemporary design trends. Metelkova, the only remaining autonomous space in Slovenia, continues to operate due to the horizontal self-initiated efforts of the community. The community generates creativity through alternative art encompassing every built volume and surface available to all and demonstrating the immense significance of residents’ and spatial users’ participation. Metelkova serves as a base point and a source for researching the principle of spatial design creating organic urbanism through alternative art and community engagement. Spatial and artistic analyses of autonomous space indicate criteria for the selection and spatial analysis of other urban spaces that emerge along the graffiti paths which stem from Metelkova as a type of alternative art. The comparison of organic and non organic urbanism – first through a comparison of the typologies of the ambiances of Metelkova and the selected urban spaces and then through a more concrete comparison of Metelkova with the adjacent museum platform – proves the high value of the involvement of inhabitants in spatial decisions, which encourages them to use their own space. However, the study of the differences between the spatial design of autonomous and open urban space also proposes an answer about the placement of Metelkova in the scope of either of these notions.
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