interspaces

Interspaces are the gaps or spaces that separate elements within a system. They can be physical, semantic, or practical; the term emphasizes the role of the empty region as something that can influence function, movement, diffusion, or perception.

In writing and typography, interspaces refer to the spaces between words, letters, or morphemes. Interword spaces organize text; intercharacter spacing affects legibility; in some writing systems, spaces are omitted; digital typography uses non-breaking spaces to control line breaks.

In biology, interspaces or interstitial spaces are gaps between cells within tissues or organs. They enable fluid movement and exchange of nutrients; interstitial fluid occupies these regions; changes in interspaces can reflect edema or disease.

In materials science, interspaces or interstitial sites are voids in a crystal lattice that can host atoms; porosity and diffusion depend on available interspaces. In architecture and urban design, interspaces denote the spaces between buildings, such as courtyards or plazas, shaping light, airflow, and social activity.

In computing, interspaces correspond to whitespace characters that separate tokens in source code or data streams. How interspaces are treated—whether they are significant or ignored—affects parsing, formatting, and data interpretation.