Temporary urbanism as a new policy strategy: a contemporary panacea or a trojan horse?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, temporary uses of space are spreading in Europe as a new policy tool to recover vacant areas. The theoretical debate is divided between the promoters of these new forms of tailor-made urbanism and the detractors, who argue that temporary urbanism is increasingly subject to profit logic as an urban policy strategy. Through two French case studies (The ‘Grands Voisins’ in Paris and the ‘Transfer Project’ in Nantes), the article discusses the characteristics of temporary urban planning and its intrinsic tension between a contemporary panacea and a trojan horse. Can the ‘temporary city’ be a partial response to the issues of social inclusion, housing, and equal accessibility to spaces and amenities, which the contemporary city seems to fail in? Or is temporary urbanism just an alibi for administrations and local leaders to continue perpetrating neoliberal policies?