Lumini şi umbre
Lights and shadows

Author(s): Mihai Cristian Gabriel Miron
Subject(s): Economy, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Architecture, Transport / Logistics
Published by: INCD URBAN-INCERC
Keywords: light; shadow; (high-speed) roads; alienation; introspection;
Summary/Abstract: Starting from a riddle about shadow, the article proposes a reflection on the subtle relationship between light and shadow as modes of representation and perception. Light provides visibility, but shadows provide depth and meaning. Applied to roads - especially high-speed ones -, this idea raises the question of whether modern (road) infrastructure can become not only a space of efficient transit, but also a place of memory, identity and contemplation. The article explores the opposition between two fundamental modes of existence, vita activa and vita contemplativa. Fast roads illustrate the contemporary obsession with speed, excessive visibility, possession, accumulation, consumption, hyperactivity and performance, blurring opportunities for reflection and interiority. They become a metaphor of an existence without pause and meaning. In contrast, slow roads - through the presence of shadows and intermediate stops - allow reconnection with time, place and self, supporting a more balanced relationship between man and the traversed environment. Today's society privileges "having" over "being", and the loss of shadow spaces transforms the road into a non-place lacking identity and depth. Healing begins with the establishment of limits (inner thresholds) that stimulate creativity and facilitate a return to oneself. Roads, like any act of design, must be anchored in the territory and include spaces for stopping and reflection. They can become intermediate spaces that facilitate the dialogue between landscape and man, past and present. It is not about rejecting the modern road, but about restoring the balance between active exteriority and contemplative interiority. Inspired by Fernando Pessoa's idea of static theatre - where inner movement is more important than physical movement -, the article proposes a reading of the road as a stage of introspection. At high speeds, we perceive only fragments of the landscape, and inner experiences become essential. Roads can be more than simple transit corridors: they can become frames of moving contemplation, scenes of rediscovering interiority and the natural rhythms of time. The revaluation of "shadows" - i.e. spaces of slowing down, of stopping - could recover the authentic meaning of travel. Fast roads correspond to conventional theatre, dominated by action, while slow roads and stopping stations evoke the static theatre of contemplation. In order to recover the reflexive dimension of travel, road infrastructure must include territorial anchors that stimulate deep perception (of the traversed space). The article invites us to rethink the road as a space of encounter and authentic experience, to become a living place again.

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