Temporary urban uses - innovative ways to transform cities or
new means to old ends?
The scale and variety of temporary - or meanwhile or interim - urban
uses and spaces has grown rapidly in response to the dramatic increase
in vacant and derelict land and buildings, particularly in
post-industrial cities. To some, this indicates that a paradigm shift in
city making is underway. To others, alternative urbanism is little more
than a distraction that temporarily cloaks some of the negative outcomes
of conventional urban development. However, rigorous, theoretically
informed criticism of temporary uses has been limited. The book draws on
international experience to address this shortcoming from the
perspectives of the law, sociology, human geography, urban studies,
planning and real estate.
It considers how time - and the way that it is experienced - informs
alternative perspectives on transience. It emphasises the importance,
for analysis, of the structural position of a temporary use in an urban
system in spatial, temporal and socio-cultural terms. It illustrates how
this position is contingent upon circumstances. What may be deemed a
helpful and acceptable use to established institutions in one context
may be seen as a problematic, unacceptable use in another. What may be a
challenging and fulfilling alternative use to its proponents may lose
its allure if it becomes successful in conventional terms.
Conceptualisations of temporary uses are, therefore, mutable and the use
of fixed or insufficiently differentiated frames of reference within
which to study them should be avoided. It then identifies the major
challenges of transforming a temporary use into a long-term use. These
include the demands of regulatory compliance, financial requirements,
levels of expertise and so on. Finally, the potential impacts of policy
on temporary uses, both inadvertent and intended, are considered.
The first substantive, critical review of temporary urban uses,
Transience and Permanence in Urban Development is essential reading
for academics, policy makers, practitioners and students of cities
worldwide.
