Documenting interim spaces as 21st century heritage

‘Interim Spaces and Creative Use’ is a documentary output of the research project under the same title which was funded by the Leverhulme Trust (RF-2012-518) with £45,000 over a period of two and a half years (1/10/12-31/3/15). The research project investigated whether vacant land can be beneficial for local communities if officially brought into interim uses. It built upon a historical review of interim spaces (UK and international) to focus on London in the late 2000s and early 2010s downturn. A number of initiatives in London were examined through an empirical study of local creative use in five interim sites representative of such initiatives. The research design comprised on-site filming and interviews with users, site surveys, a website, and a public workshop open to all participants. Using the documentary as a starting point, the paper highlights links between past and present creative temporary projects developed in vacant urban spaces from the post-war context of London up to the early 2010s recession. Through these links, specific themes emerge, which provide insights into practices and ideologies relating to temporariness and vacancy and their tangible and intangible legacies for contemporary urban projects: from gardening as a vehicle for community cohesion, to the reuse of vacant land for environmental awareness and remediation and long-term regeneration. Most historical temporary projects are long gone, leaving no physical traces behind; some, however, remain and have managed to endure. The making of the documentary responds to the need to capture and protect the heritage value of such temporary interventions even after these may be physically gone or altered. The paper highlights the importance of tracing that legacy in how vacant space has been reimagined through temporary use in 21st century London, and its relevance for the longer-term production of the city

Notation timelines and the aesthetics of disappearance

Contemporary cities are frequently surrounded by transitional landscapes: ambiguous lands, non-places on the urban edge, commonly experienced under the condition of speed. Although variously shaped by processes of urbanisation, logistics of road engineering, safety and ownership, and local people's lives, for travellers such landscapes are usually perceived in a state of disappearance. This condition presents a major challenge for the traditional methods used in architecture and urban design. For designers interested in the organisation and design of such mobility routes for the engagement of the traveller, a method of scripting based on notation timelines would provide a helpful supplement to traditional master plans. This paper explores the development of such a method and its roots in time-based arts, such as dance, music and film, as well as in the recent history of architecture and urban design. It does so through the presentation of an experimental study based on a real route, the train journey from London to Stansted airport

Short Term Projects, Long Term Ambitions: Facets of Transience in Two London Development Sites

Exploring the phenomenon of short term projects on vacant land through empirical research in London in the latest downturn, this chapter draws on two case studies which reflect different attitudes to transience and permanence in urban development. Through defining the notion of ‘short-term’, the chapter locates the case studies in a historical framework. A complex systems/resilience framework brings the socio-environmental dimension of temporary uses to the foreground, while collaborative planning theory frames the way in which they can be portrayed as tools for community co-authorship of development. The chapter discusses the following key themes that emerged through the case study approach: the environmental and social contribution of vacant land in relation to urban systems, sustainability and resilience; urban development as an incremental, collaborative process, and emerging patterns of collaboration and synergies between involved actors, within the context of recession; and planning policy implications

Alternative Urbanism in the Historic City Centre: A Transnational Perspective on Theory and Practice

Historic city centres are characterised by the tension between the local, represented by authentic spaces of everyday life, and the global, responding to the needs of tourism industry and capital flows. Under the neoliberal paradigm, state-led urban regeneration projects often benefit developers and private investors with little regard to the socio-economic dynamics of existing communities. Recently, this approach has been challenged by alternative practices of placemaking that represent a transition from top-down imposition of urban change to the co-production of space. Such practices are characterised by a more temporary, flexible and tactical approach to the design of space. They represent a collective desire that involves several actors, from local residents and business owners, to civil society organisations and design professionals in the role no longer of the exclusive author but as facilitators and mediators of change. Observing the development of such practice in the western world, and the corresponding theorisation attempts developed mostly by western scholars, this paper looks further to its applications in the global South, with evidence drawn from empirical research in London, UK and Cairo, Egypt. The paper suggests that alternative urbanism may be indicative of a longer-term transition towards a more equitable urban planning practice

Surveying the Creative Use of Vacant Space in London, c.1945-95

This paper draws on a Leverhulme-funded research project entitled ‘Interim spaces and creative use’ (2012-2014). The project investigated five present-day temporary projects sited on vacant land in London. Conscious of the long history of creative temporary occupations, the project pushes against the ephemeral nature of interim projects of the past, strategically documenting the five case studies through interviews, film, site surveys and photographs. The specific purpose of this paper is to contextualise this recent fieldwork against the wider historical background of the creative temporary uses of vacant urban space, therefore negotiating between definitions of ‘vacant’ and ‘empty’. Vacant spaces have been historically associated with dereliction or abandonment, ‘lost space’ (Trancik 1986), ‘urban voids’ and ‘cracks in the city’ (Loukaitou-Sideris 1996). Against the perception of vacancy as waste and emptiness, a more positive reading has been promoted through the notion of the ‘terrain vague’ (de Sola-Morales 1995). Although the present-day case studies emerged out of a very particular political, economic and cultural context, that of the late-2000s recession, this is not the first time that temporary uses have emerged in the history of London. Some of the case studies of the research project are located on sites with legacies of use that stretch back far beyond the 20th century and such histories complicate our readings of these short-term projects. The paper is however primarily concerned with the post-war context of London, up to the present day. Using the case studies as a spur for reflection, it provides an overview of the key moments in the evolution of creative temporary projects developed in vacant spaces. The discussion also highlights links between past and present projects. Setting out from the post-war reconstruction years, the paper explores the 1960s countercultural projects as well as the 1970s post-countercultural community garden movement and the urban ecology turn. It then considers the impact of an increasingly global environmental awareness in the 1980s, leading up to the 1990s regeneration boom. This broad survey is supported by specific historical examples of creative use - some of which have proved to be truly temporary whilst others have managed to endure - explored through published material, interviews with initiators and archival photographic records. Through this historical review the paper links London projects to wider movements worldwide, with particular references to US and Europe where a direct influence can be established. Key themes emerging that provide insights into practices and ideologies relating to ‘emptiness’ are discussed and their legacies for contemporary urban projects identified. The paper observes that there has been a historical evolution in how ‘empty space’ has been discovered, made visible and reimagined in 20th century London, and highlights its relevance for today’s vacant urban spaces

Temporary Intervention and Long Term Legacy: Lessons from London Case Studies

The paper explores the issue of temporary projects on vacant land focusing on London in the 2007-2012 downturn. Using a case study approach, a link has been identified between the success of temporary projects and a longer-term vision, as well as a move toward better integration between temporary occupants and developer/land-owner. Within this paradox the whole idea of temporariness is put under question, as is the traditional mainstream depiction of bottom-up in opposition to top-down action. These trends are contextualised within the dynamics of recession that has triggered new types of creative conversations between parties traditionally considered in opposition and may contribute to reframing urban development as an incremental, organic and collaborative process

Mind the gaps! A research agenda for urban interstices

Processes of urbanisation can hardly be considered without reference to the spaces that lie between developments. However, the literature on such interstitial spaces is fragmentary. In this paper we draw together insights from the extant literature into a research agenda on urban interstices. We propose a research agenda centred on four themes: the multiple geographic scales at which the interstitial spaces of urban sprawl might be analysed; the pending nature of such spaces; their planned or unplanned character and their relational properties. We develop these themes, briefly illustrating them with reference to the case of metropolitan area of Santiago de Chile. In conclusion, we emphasise some of the implications of interstitial spaces for theories of urban politics and their value in forcing inter-disciplinarity in urban studies