Introduction—Setting-Up a Research Agenda for Temporary Urbanism

Abstract

Temporary urbanism can be defined as processes, practices and policies of and for spatial adaptability, allowing the transformation of a space in perceived need of transition, and thus impacting the surrounding socio-economic urban environments. There are three types of temporary urbanisms: bottom-up, top-down and hybrid. Having said that, this concept is still not widely used in academia and in practice for various reasons. This includes: the ephemeral and hence not permanent nature of temporary urbanisms hindering the sustainability of its memories; its preconceptions initially perceived as favoring conflits over permanent uses of space; an overaccumulation of work and interests towards temporariness resulting in in too many words and concepts looking at the same research objects; and finally its complexity and diversity making it hard to characterise and unpick. This chapter sets up the research agenda for temporary urbanism insisting on its relevance for various contexts, both in the Global North and the Global South.