WHAT
“Temporary urbanism covers any initiative on unoccupied properties that aim to revitalize local life before development occurs. The opening up of possibilities on such sites generates innovation, creativity and often mixed-uses.”
(Paris Region Development And Urban Planning Institute, 2017)
“Provisional, informal, guerrilla, insurgent, DIY, hands-on, informal, unsolicited, unplanned, participatory, tactical, micro, open-source – these are just a few of the words floating around to describe a type of interventionist urbanism sweeping through cities around the world.”
“Field of practices difficult to define: can be described as an intersection of the temporary and the tactical, or the interim and the interstitial (they squeeze between and within larger-scale strategies). Broad field of incremental urban transformations that fill interim periods of time and underutilized urban space.”
(Dovey, K., 2016)
“the theme of temporary urbanism is becoming increasingly important in architectural and urban design discourse, but it tends to be examined in an empirical and practical way. Some studies have focused on ephemerality and transience in specific cities: either tracing their rapid transformation, as in Houston (Scardino et al., 2004), or on the proposals for their transformation, as in Luxembourg (Koolhaas et al., 2008), or on an architect’s projects (Tschumi, 2010). More often, however, the temporary use of urban space is advocated as an opportunity for change and as a critique of fixed rules, rigid master planning and long-term strategies.
In addition to the temporary uses of space, temporary buildings are also discussed, such as the imperial expositions held in fin-de-siècle London, Paris and Berlin (Geppert, 2013), or examples of current temporary buildings such as pavilions, fair stands, container-architecture, stage sets, installations and temporary housing solutions (Jodidio, 2011).
While focusing on temporality, I have analysed it in a close relation to spatiality, as time and space cannot be treated separately, and as the term suggests, temporary urbanism refers to both time and space at the same time.”
(https://www.bloomsburyarchitecturelibrary.com/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781350014275&tocid=b-9781350014275-0000099&pdfid=9781350014275.ch-001.pdf)
“Tactical Urbanism is an approach to neighborhood building and activation using short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions and policies. Tactical urbanism is used by a range of actors, including governments, business and nonprofits, citizen groups, and individuals. It makes use of open and iterative development processes, the efficient use of resources, and the creative potential unleashed by social interaction.”
(Lydon, M., & Garcia, A, 2015)
“A city and/or citizen-led approach to neighborhood building that uses short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions and policies to catalyze long term change.”
(Lydon, M. et al, 2014)
“tactical urbanism is a deliberate approach to city-making that features the following five characteristics:
• A deliberate, phased approach to instigating change;
• An offering of local ideas for local planning challenges;
• Short-term commitment and realistic expectations;
• Low-risks, with a possibly a high reward; and
• The development of social capital between citizens, and the building of organizational capacity between public-private institutions, non-profits, and their constituents.”
(Lydon, M., & Garcia, A, 2015)
It is variously termed:
•‘temporary urbanism’ (Bishop and Williams, 2012)
•‘insurgent urbanism’ (Hou, 2010)
•‘urban catalist’ (Oswalt, Overmeyer and Misselwitz, 2013)
•‘tactical urbanism’ (Lydon and Garca, 2015 – two of the authors of Tactical Urbanism Vol. 2)
•‘austerity urbanism’ (Tonkiss, 2013)
•‘sandpit urbanism’ (Stevens, 2015)
•‘DIY urban design’ (Fabian and Samson, 2015)
•‘pop-up urbanism’
•‘guerrilla urbanism’
(Dovey, K., 2016)