Temporary or ‘meanwhile’ use of outdoor public unused space or private space earmarked for future development, can provide opportunities for site activation which reduces urban heat island effect, through greening activities or through providing public access to private cool spaces. Examples include pop-up uses such as shops or markets that use cool materials or urban gardens. Existing car parks or vacant lots can provide a platform for improved local cooling, with interventions reducing the amount of impermeable low albedo hardscape.
Citizens as urban co-producers
Precedents for occupying urban spaces with temporary projects include the Paris-based Atelier d’Architecture Autogeree. Their “ECOboxes” (pictured) are installed in different neighbourhoods as temporary platforms for participatory gardening and a mix of other social and cultural activities. Activities include workshops, talks, screenings, preparing and sharing meals. Another example is R-Urban, which is a network of closed local ecologies where participants only consume what is produced. Temporary urban gardening can encourage local capacity building and encourage new forms of collaborative governance. For example, in Brisbane, a community negotiated the right to develop a yam plantation (pictured) on unused land for a three-year period, agreeing to cover all costs including relevant insurances. The whole community was involved in the preparation, cultivation and harvesting of the crop which was then distributed among the community and to charity groups. When the land was needed by the governing institution, a new plantation was created temporarily elsewhere (Armstrong, 2016, p. 72).
The measure of success for this pattern includes reducing the ambient and surface temperature of unused land by increasing the quantum of permeable or shaded surfaces; the longevity of the access negotiated to maximise the temporary use, and the social and community return on investment generated during the term.
This pattern does not include temporary use of buildings as Cooling Refuges (see separate pattern).
