Table Of ContentTemporary and
Tactical Urbanism
Temporary and Tactical Urbanism examines a key set of urban design strategies that have emerged
in the twenty-first century. Such projects range from guerrilla gardens and bike lanes to more
formalised temporary beaches and swimming pools, parklets, pop-up plazas and buildings and
container towns.
These practices enable diverse forms of economic, social and artistic life that are usually
repressed by the fixities of urban form and its management. This book takes a thematic approach to
explore what the scope of this practice is, and understand why it has risen to prominence, how it
works, who is involved, and what its implications are for the future of city design and planning. It
critically examines the material, social, economic and political complexities that surround and enable
these small, ephemeral urban interventions. It identifies their short-term and long-term implications
for urban intensity, diversity, creativity and adaptability.
The book’s insights into temporary and tactical urbanism have particular relevance in the
context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted both the need and the possibility of
quickly transforming urban spaces worldwide. They also reveal significant lessons for the long-term
planning and design of buildings, landscapes and cities.
Quentin Stevens is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the
School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University in Melbourne. He studied temporary uses
of urban spaces in Germany as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, and currently leads an Australian
Research Council-funded project examining temporary and tactical urbanism in Australia and inter-
nationally. His publications include The Ludic City (2007), Loose Space (2007), Activating Urban
Waterfronts (2020) and numerous journal articles.
Kim Dovey is a Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Melbourne and
Director of the Informal Urbanism Research Hub (Infur-). His research on social issues in architecture
and urban design has included investigations of urban place identity, creative clusters, transit-
oriented urban design and the morphology of informal settlements. His books include Framing Places
(1999/2008), Fluid City (2005), Becoming Places (2010) and Urban Design Thinking (2016).
Temporary and
Tactical Urbanism
(Re)Assembling Urban Space
Quentin Stevens and Kim Dovey
Cover image: Quentin Stevens and Ha Thai
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Quentin Stevens and Kim Dovey
The right of Quentin Stevens and Kim Dovey to be identified as authors of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Stevens, Quentin, 1969- author. | Dovey, Kim, author.
Title: Temporary and tactical urbanism : (Re)assembling urban space / Quentin Stevens and
Kim Dovey.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: “Temporary and Tactical Urbanism examines a key set of urban design strategies
that have emerged in the twenty-first century. Such projects range from guerrilla gardens and
bike lanes to more formalized temporary beaches and swimming pools, parklets, pop-up plazas
and buildings, and container towns. These practices enable diverse forms of economic, social
and artistic life that are usually repressed by the fixities of urban form and its management.
This book takes a thematic approach to exploring what the scope of this practice is, and
understanding why it has risen to prominence, how it works, who is involved, and what its
implications are for the future of city design and planning. It critically examines the material,
social, economic and political complexities that surround and enable these small, ephemeral
urban interventions. It identifies their short-term and long-term implications for urban
intensity, diversity, creativity and adaptability. The book’s insights into temporary and tactical
urbanism have particular relevance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has
highlighted both the need and the possibility of quickly transforming urban spaces worldwide.
They also reveal significant lessons for the long-term planning and design of buildings,
landscapes and cities”‐‐ Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022009549 (print) | LCCN 2022009550 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032256542 (hbk) |
ISBN 9781032256535 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003284390 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Cities and towns. | Urbanization. | Public spaces.
Classification: LCC HT151 .S6544 2023 (print) | LCC HT151 (ebook) | DDC 307.76‐‐dc23/eng/
20220411
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022009549
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022009550
ISBN: 978-1-032-25654-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-25653-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-28439-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003284390
Typeset in Univers
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Contributor Details xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
1 Definitions 17
2 Interests 33
3 Practice 53
4 Assemblage 79
5 Creativity 103
6 Temporality 129
7 Capacities 149
8 Futures 167
Bibliography 187
Index 199
Figures
1.1 Vegetable car, Berkeley, 1983 18
1.2 Temporary/tactical projects 21
1.3 Parklet, San Francisco 23
1.4 Paris Plages 24
1.5 Diagramming the temporary/tactica 24
1.6 Temporary café, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, 1991 28
4.1 Typical city beaches in Germany: Strandsalon, Lübeck and La
Playa, Leipzig 81
4.2 Skybeach, Stuttgart, on the roof of the parking garage of the
Galeria Kaufhof department store 82
4.3 Temporary and relocatable buildings, play equipment, and
awnings, and south sea umbrellas, palm trees and a ship create a
beach atmosphere. Bundespressestrand, Berlin 85
4.4 Demonstration by local gymnastics club. Strandleben, Vaihingen
an der Enz 87
4.5 Public Viewing of World Cup soccer matches. Strandbar,
Magdeburg 90
4.6 South Pacific atmosphere through extensive use of thatching.
Strand Pauli, Hamburg 92
4.7 The six sets of actors that are thrown together to create city
beaches 96
5.1 Photomontage emphasising the role of ‘Creative Nomads’ in
temporary activation of unused urban sites 108
5.2 A concert in 2017 by Yalta Club on Kulturstrand, Munich 112
5.3 Conceptual diagram of the relationships among the various actors
that are creatively assembled to enable temporary use of a site 114
6.1 Eight ways that time frames temporary uses 142
7.1 Graffiti mapping – Fitzroy, Melbourne 155
7.2 A field of differences for t/t urbanist projects 157
7.3 Capacity mapping – Inner-city Melbourne 160
8.1 Eight ways that time frames temporary uses 170
Tables
5.1 Key themes in temporary use literature 106
5.2 Key critiques expressed in temporary use literature 106
