Meanwhile Use to Create Permanent Change
Camilla Andersen
“Meanwhile use” is the temporary activation or programming of buildings, spaces, and places in the urban realm. The approach is popular as a method to instigate, test, or implement rapid, low cost and low risk change in the built environment to short-circuit or jump-start what can otherwise be a very slow and very expensive process. By lowering technical and capital requirements, meanwhile use projects provide opportunities for communities to engage at every stage, from design and construction to operations and use.
Meanwhile use can be integrated in the Town Investment Plan as a tactic to help achieve pre-defined goals or as a strategy leading to bigger and wider opportunities for change by starting small and learning over time. The following four approaches may be applicable to towns, with real life examples provided for each.
The Taster
Promote large-scale, slow-moving projects through temporary, small-scale interventions and programmes. This approach helps increase the value and popularity of a planned development or public infrastructure project before it is complete. Examples
The Seedling
Draw attention to overlooked places by creating new, exciting reasons for people to visit. This approach catalyses change and generates interest in underused areas before any long-term plans are proposed, unlocking places with great, unrealised potential.
Examples
Village Éphémère, Montreal (see below)
Village Éphémère
Village Éphémère, Montreal, was a temporary village created by a local group of designers and makers in a part of the city with very little foot traffic and even fewer investment interests. The village was so successful that it was implemented as a more permanent destination: Village au Pied-du-Courant.
The Facilitator
Shape a project in collaboration with existing communities by creating a transitory landscape for engagement and dialogue. This approach can help create alignment between local and new stakeholders, which is key to implementing successful towns programmes.
Examples
25 Questions for Cities, Copenhagen (see below)
25 Questions for Cities
25 Questions for Cities, Copenhagen, was a public engagement project built around 25 mutually exclusive choices for how digital technology could be integrated into cities and public spaces. People passing by the installation were invited to share their opinion via a series of traffic-cone like voting stations.
The Benchmark
Understand the real-world impacts of new infrastructure projects by measuring the use and effects of temporary changes. This approach can help build an evidence-based case for investing in A over B.
Examples
Fitzpark, London (see below)
Fitzpark
Fitzpark, London, was a mini, green public installation designed to fit into the area of a few parking spaces. The impact of the installation was carefully monitored, showing for example a 41% increase in people’s self-reported sense of wellbeing on the street.
Choosing which of these approaches is most suitable depends on the unique needs of the project. Before embarking on a meanwhile use project, it is important to question both why you might wish to use temporality as a strategic tool, who the project is intended to serve, what the scale, timeline, and budget of the project is, and how the project can deliver the greatest impact within these constraints.
Finally, it is important to appreciate the amount of time and effort that goes into planning, executing, and evaluating a meanwhile use project in order for the short-term intervention to reach its long-term strategic goals (which are its very reason for existing in the first place). When the strategic framework is properly defined in the project’s early phases, the intervention can be carried out with clear expectations of the outcomes and a clear path to success.
Therefore, the very first step to planning a meanwhile use project is to make sure that you know exactly what questions you are trying to answer.