Pinning down Urban Acupuncture: From a Planning Practice to a Sustainable Urban Transformation Model?

Abstract

Urban acupuncture can be used as metaphor or heuristic. The phrase derives from traditional Chinese medicine, and refers to planning actions stimulating “the city’s nervous system with tiny interventions that can have a catalytic effect on the organism as a whole” (McGuirk, 2014, 26). The popularization of urban acupuncture is largely due to discussions in international news media, online blogs, and grey research literature concerning cost-effective bottom-up initiatives associated with physical and social urban revitalization interventions (Beardsley, 2008; Kaye, 2011; P erez L opez, 2017). While acknowledging certain benefits associated with urban acupuncture, more research is needed to identify the institutional conditions and allied frameworks which are useful to supporting urban acupuncture usage. Also, research is needed as to the roles played by various actors, such as government, business, and civil society in implementing urban acupuncture approaches. To do this, the application of urban acupuncture should be improved specifically through: intentional application, documentation in peer-reviewed journals, precise usage and characterisation, and finally implementation of research studies which can effect long-term change. The most common names associated with urban acupuncture are architect and urbanist Manuel de Sol a-Morales (1939–2012), Mayor of Curitiba, Brasil from 1971 to 1992, Jamie Lerner (1937–2021) and Finnish architect, Marco Casagrande. De Sol a-Morales is said to have been the first to use urban acupuncture as a form of urban planning (Casagrande, 2013). According to De Sol a-Morales urban acupuncture consists of, “small interventions, which create a ripple, not comprehensive development [and include] embellishments like the sinuous canal side bench ... .”. De Sol a-Morales has emphasized the importance of always intervening with “concrete” matters while effecting change that goes beyond the physical interventions being implemented (de Sol a-Morales, 2008). He is well known for his association with interventions made in Europe and specifically Barcelona, Spain. Similarly to De Sola Morales, Lerner emphasized change beyond interventions. According to Lerner “[urban acupuncture] revitalizes a ‘sick’ or ‘worn out’ area and its surroundings through a simple touch of a key point. Just as in the medical approach, this intervention will trigger positive chain-reactions, helping to cure and enhance the whole system” (Lerner, 2014). According to Lerner, “no matter how good [planning] may be, a plan by itself cannot bring about