Temporary urban environments - Framework conditions and solutions for sustainable short-term pop-up living systems

Abstract

In a constantly changing world, cities are becoming a focal point for housing in times of social and political crisis. Subsequently, the need for temporary living systems, particularly in urban environments, is expected to increase significantly. To address these urgent demands, it is important to find affordable, flexible, sustainable and reusable concepts, easy to construct and rapid to implement, that can fulfil a range of requirements in order to be sustainable from an environmental, economic and social perspective. In an interdisciplinary research project innovative and sustainable models for pop-up living systems in urban environments are developed. Methods from urban planning, architecture and building systems technologies are interlinked to resource related disciplines such as energy optimization, green technologies, waste management, water supply, wastewater treatment and social and political sciences. Diverse modelling approaches are integrated into a cross-disciplinary approach to provide potential scenarios for pop-up environments. This paper describes the required framework conditions and presents potential solutions for temporary environments for specific scenarios, aiming at delivering answers to the question of how temporary housing can rapidly fulfil short-term living needs in a sustainable and integrative manner.