Abstract
In the current urban system, characterised by a one-directional flow of resources from the rural environment to the cities, the construction sector plays a critical role in supporting the transition from a linear to a circular economy. In this framework, temporary pop-up environments act as an innovative and sustainable type of living system. These are structures conceived as temporary from the outset, based on characteristics like flexible light-weight technologies, fast and easy assembly operations, temporary occupation of the ground and adaptability to different uses, needs and target groups. Great importance is placed on construction reversibility and environmental sustainability. In the framework of the interdisciplinary research project ‘Urban Pop-Up Housing Environments and Their Potential as Local Innovation Systems’, six scenarios of application for temporary pop-up environments for the city of Vienna have been developed, taking into consideration technical, urban and social aspects, on the basis of local uses and climatic conditions. In order to explore drivers and barriers of the scenarios regarding the transferability of the concepts, online questionnaire sessions were conducted with an international audience. The feedback obtained by the participants allowed an analysis of the applicability of the concepts to other urban environments under comparable conditions at the international level. The paper presents the results obtained from the questionnaire sessions, allowing insight on the international perception of temporary pop-up environments and, specifically, strengths and weaknesses of the scenarios, as well as their possible applicability in the local contexts of the respondents. It was observed that while the perceptions of what requirements temporary housing must fulfil in order to be sustainable are quite uniform among the experts, the identified barriers for implementation within the different international contexts differed greatly. The designs of these temporary housing scenarios, which rely heavily on local resources and systems, are strongly interwoven with the fabric and conditions of the city they were conceptualised for. While this serves to promote the sustainability of these solutions, it poses a particular challenge for the international transferability, requiring heavy adaptation for other contexts.
Highlights
Cities are characterised by a large built environment that includes various types of buildings and infrastructures, such as streets, bridges and open spaces for pedestrians
The presented research focuses on temporary pop-up environments (PUEs), designed as innovative models of living systems
The PUEs conceptualised within the WWTF-funded project explore innovative and sustainable housing solutions that promote the transition of the construction sector from linear to circular models
Summary
Cities are characterised by a large built environment that includes various types of buildings and infrastructures, such as streets, bridges and open spaces for pedestrians. As part of the transition from a linear to a circular economy, the current construction sector needs to consider new methods and services to create positive environmental impacts and approach circular economy models, which encompass production and processing secondary resources This requires changing the way products are conceived and allowing the reuse of building components and materials [8], avoiding waste and reducing costs [9, 10]. New methods and tools are needed [14], as well as new circular approaches that can contribute to the creation of sustainable cities of the future [15], as promoted by the Sustainable Development Goal 11 — Sustainable cities and communities — set in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly [16] In this framework, the presented research focuses on temporary pop-up environments (PUEs), designed as innovative models of living systems. This is due to examples of temporary dwellings that do not attain adequate standards of sustainability in the social, economic or environmental dimension [33]
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