Temporary Uses: tools to reactivate urban micro-spaces - Thesis dissertation about the temporary as a possible device for the reactivation of urban micro-spaces

Abstract

Phenomenon by which the speed of a chemical reaction is modified by the presence of small quantities of substances (catalysts) that are not consumed during the reaction, not becoming part of the final products; The exploration of the theme of “Urban Catalysis” begins with the work of the homonymous research group of the Berlin’s Technical University in the 1990s, funded by the European community. The origin of the name is almost provocative and aims to be a dialectical synaesthesia between catalyst, a chemical phenomenon and the urban adjective, two terms that are not usually combined. With this neologism we want to undertake the narration of realities that are transformed thanks to micro-interventions (the catalysts) and the various unplanned and informal uses of these spaces, which are not normally included within the competence of traditional urban planning. From 2001 to 2003 the study tries to investigate the potential of temporary use as an engine of urban transformation for five different European cities, as it began to be noticed that a development seen as “informal” had become the first indicator for a planned planning, an index for the great realities to define which were the main places on which to intervene and invest, and on which to move from an informal planning to a more formal one. The main transformation that took place thanks to this study was precisely in conceiving this reality not as antithetical to usual planning and as a problem, but as a fundamental component for the development of new design strategies. The aim of this research is first of all to investigate these new methods of tactical urban planning, where the participatory dimension assumes a predominant role in the definition of future transformations; the temporary use of public space becomes the protagonist of the reactivation of the marginal spaces, of those places within the densely built city that remain inactive for a long time, in “lethargy” thanks to the intervention, aware or not, of all those who “inhabit these spaces. Spacial design and urban-social realities are generally defined as two opposite poles, and even more if we think of the informal use of space as an interference of original projects - but it is exactly from this contradiction that the research starts, from the distinction (or union) between urban planning and informal use. So can temporary use, as an important factor for the development of the city, be incorporated into traditional planning? And how can it open up to social spontaneity? And vice versa, can the unplanned become planned, the informal become formal? This analysis begins on the examination of unscheduled and spontaneous processes that would normally pass as marginal or would not even been considered. This type of use of community spaces shouldn’t be considered marginal, nor as something innovative. It has existed since the second half of the nineteenth century, in its period of maximum development, due also to the transition from Fordism to a Knowledge-based economy and to a densification of activities, leading to dense areas of activities / offices / places of aggregation and others left without any short-term schedule. And it is precisely here that the research wants readers to pay more attention. Temporary use in most cases is unplanned, but it is present in many large cities and plays an important role in urban and social realities, as well as in their development. Each t