The global phenomenon of Tactical Urbanism (Engage organization,2013)

This document is an extract from engage 32:

Citizenship and Belonging, 2013, Karen Raney (ed.). London: engage, the National Association for Gallery Education. All contents © The Authors and engage, unless stated otherwise.

www.engage.org/journal

The Global Phenomenon of Tactical Urbanism as an Indicator of New Forms of Citizenship

Cara Courage n1, n2 Arts and urban consultant, writer, curator

Tactical urbanism is the term given to the global phenomenon of informal interventions in the urban fabric – both cultural and physical. It is an umbrella term for many sub-genres of activity, including hacktivism, guerrilla, DIY, acupuncture, opensource, subversive, stealth or wiki urbanism that share common modus operandi, aims and objectives. Tactical urbanism tends to be grassroots and bottom-up, has anti-authoritarian characteristics and aims to enhance the urban lived experience through incremental strategies of improvement. It is often temporary, low cost, quick to install and dismantle, informal, spontaneous, participatory and driven by community issues, and often initiated by emerging architects, artists and creative urbanists working outside of professional boundaries.1

Tactical urban projects may occur on a micro local scale of a wall, as in the sticker-based project I Wish This Was…n3 by artist Candy Chang or the Post-it wall at Peckham Poundland n4 and the post-2011 riots. Many will happen on a larger scale

on the level of park, street or neighbourhood, such as Open Streets Chicago, n5 where streets are closed off for a day and given over to arts and leisure activities, or the Favela Painting n6 project by Hass & Hahn, which painted large-scale murals in Brazilian favelas with resident young people. Some projects may have, or go on to acquire, a global manifestation, such as PARK(ing) Day n7 Begun in San Francisco by arts organisation Rebar and now in 35 countries and 162 cities, PARK(ing) Day uses a creative approach to draw attention to the volume of space used for cars in the city by taking over parking spaces and transforming them into anything from libraries and gardens to cafés and music stages or just a place for people to come and sit. Similar projects can now been seen in cities such as Berlin and Sydney under the name of ‘parklets’. Whatever the initial scale, ‘small or finite efforts can blossom into larger-scale, ongoing transformations.’ 2

Not all tactical urbanism may employ the arts in its process or outcomes, but a great many do involve a

creative process, and these approaches are the concern of this article. I will discuss how arts-based tactical urbanism contributes both to the reshaping of urban space and to new models of civic participation.

Tactical urbanism and art practice

In the context of arts practice, tactical urbanism is a reversal of the Modernist paradigm as it is site and context specific 3 – all the examples cited here are a response to a particular situation in a particular time and place. The art is ‘evental’ 4 that is temporal, irruptive, informational, expositional and performative; it takes place in an ‘event-space’, be it a street, block or borough. With critical mass, it creates an ‘event city’, a city that is co-organised by emergent and grassroots actions.5 Tactical urbanism involves a range of creative practices, as distinct, inter and transdisciplinary artforms. From small-scale applied visual arts (London’s Knit the City, n8 a UK yarn-bombing group) to wholebuilding decorative arts (Jacqueline Poncelet’s Wrapper, n9 Edgware Road, London) and architecture (Assemble’s Folly for a Flyover;n10 Kurt Perschke’s Redball Project n11), the city is used as medium, canvas and frame, and as a laboratory for social interaction and invention. In Axis Alleyn12 in Baltimore, disused lots were used via the arts to unite neighbourhoods and at the other end of the range of practice, Haque Design and Research n13 works in interactive architecture to create digital responsive environments and interactive installations to form mass-participation events.

Seen in the frame of the built environment, tactical urbanism is part of the wider practice of creativeorientated placemaking. Placemaking is the process whereby ‘public, private and not-for-profit and community sectors partner to strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighbourhood town, city or region around arts and cultural activities’.6 The term ‘cultural placemaking’ is more apposite here as it includes the notion of the arts being embedded in culture, not operating separately. ‘Cultural’ also indicates that not all placemaking is primarily economically driven or concerned. The ‘New York City Streets Renaissance’ n14 campaign, running since 2005, is a grassroots-initiated project that has taken this approach to reform New York’s transportation policy. It first has raised the profile of progressive transportation and public space issues, and then, working with city stakeholders, has gone on to change policy, with a total of 49 acres of road space ‘taken back’ for the use of pedestrians, cyclists and communities.

Arts-based tactical urbanism is often facilitated by ‘urban creatives’, which refers to the wider community of participants as well as artists. For example, FutureFarmers n15 is a group of artists, researchers, designers, architects, scientists, farmers and community members with a common interest in ‘creating frameworks for exchange that catalyse moments of not knowing’ through the medium of urban farming and temporary public art and tactical urbanism projects n16 such as

FlatBread Societyn17 and Soil Kitchen. n18 This is a new form of urbanism whose aim is to challenge economic, social and political systems, with an expanded definition of who can ‘do’ urbanism: ‘… ordinary users and inhabitants of the city challenge and adapt civic spatial rules to their benefit’.7 The varied work of artists Bethany Bristow, n19 James Reynolds, n20 and Papergirln21 is indicative of this subversive approach and the creative rejuvenation of Detroit has been credited to such activity – see

such media coverage as in TwinCities, ‘Detroit putting pieces back together, with food and art leading the way.’ n22

By placing public and residential communities on an equal footing with artists, city authorities and planners, cultural placemaking strengthens connections between people, place and community. An artist may be the instigator of a project and instrumental to it, but the other

participants are co-producers. The cityscape is both source material and the area of operation.8, 9 Consequently, there is a deconstruction of relationships and roles that ‘releases possibilities for new interactions, functions and meanings.’ 10

Tactical urbanism and new civic participation ‘…the presence and making of insurgent public space serves as a barometer of the democratic well-being and inclusiveness of our present society’.11

Tactical urbanism is not counter to the consultation process found in architecture and formal placemaking activities,12 but its projects are more citizen-based, often taking a critical stance on spaces that the community determines are underused or not being used properly. The Urban Web n23 by Architecture for Humanity, for example, re-purposed a vacant Manhattan lot into a twoweek long multisensory interactive installation. ‘2Up2Down’ n24 in Anfield, led by artist Jeanne van Heeswijk n25 and funded by Liverpool Biennial, n26 has reclaimed the local bakery to use this space and the process of baking to galvanise the community to think about and shape its future. Such participation defines new territories by modifying and contesting the boundaries imposed by planners, architects, designers, policy makers and politicians. Tactical urbanism is a guerrilla approach to urban design that empowers communities without getting caught in the slow process of land-use legalities13 or policy-making. This model of civic participation is counter to more

traditional, prescribed forms of democratic engagement sanctioned by those in power. As a form of grassroots activity, tactical urbanism projects emerge from self-identified need at community level and often do not seek (for many at the outset at least) approval or permission from city authorities.

The work of urban hacktivist Florian Rivière n27 engages by its visual dislocation and playful nature. Hacktivism takes its inspiration from hacker and DIY culture and Florian subverts public space to encourage city dwellers to reclaim and re-purpose it. In Florian’s words, his work is ‘located between militant expression, design of public space, [and] upcycling’ 14 and includes temporary urban furniture, n28 games n29 and sports. n30 In the Lefebvre notion of the ‘right to the city’, individuals and collectives act outside of hegemonic structures to shape their experience according to their own agendas. According to Hirsch, such activity is ‘…an act of resistance against the curtailing of urban experience. It insists on the right of artists, and by extension all urban citizens, to assert themselves in public, to remake spatial practice according to their dreams and desires’.15

The micro-events of tactical urbanism are a challenge to overall city stability16 and ‘signify a porous – and more productive – relationship between grassroots activists and local government. Citizens and city officials can work together and toward common goals’. Proxyn31 in San Francisco turned two blocks into a destination for food, art

and culture and in the process made the case for short-term use of undeveloped land in the city and is securing its tenure with the city authorities. The Kresge Foundation, n32 a major philanthropist interest in Detroit, continues to invest millions to seed and develop the city’s creative infrastructure as a means to meet the shared aims of ‘long-term economic opportunity that advances social equity, promotes cultural expression, and re-establishes our hometown as the center of a vibrant region’ and has published ‘Detroit Future City’ n33 a strategic framework plan to this end.

Interventions are political in nature, representing small but persistent challenges to private ownership of the public realm,17 its access and use rights.

Space Hijackers n34 are a group of ‘anarchitects’ that create high-profile rebellious urban interventions as a challenge to the ‘constant oppressive encroachment on to public spaces of institutions, corporations and urban planners.’

Tactical urbanist interventions, though temporary and small scale, can have a lasting effect on the urban realm18 offering frameworks for larger-scale solutions. ‘[I]ncremental, small-scale improvements are increasingly seen as a way to stage more substantial investments.’ 19 San Francisco’s Urban Prototyping Festivaln35 by arts organisation Gray Area Foundation for the Arts n36 and Portland’s City Repairn37 work with local communities through arts to uncover and solve local issues. An aim of UPFestival is to develop 30% of its prototypes into longstanding

interventions and City Repair has left a strong greening legacy in the areas it has worked with. Tactical urbanism, then, has the potential to create new relationships with city planners and designers, but also with its policy makers and political decision-makers. For example Bristol Playable City, n38 hosted by city-centre arts organisation Watershed, n39 has partners that include developers, universities and business. Intermedia Arts n40 in Minneapolis works with the city authorities in creative approaches to placemaking.20 No Longer Emptyn41 inhabits empty buildings in New York City and, through a programme of exhibitions, performance and community co-production, re-enlivens these spaces and draws attention to local social, economic and environmental issues.

Art and the convivial city

Tactical urbanism projects have both creative outcomes, and outcomes in terms of local social capital.21, 22, 23 Behind the rise of this phenomenon lies the basic human desire to be part of a community, and it acts at the level of the city block or neighbourhood. Tactical urbanism is part urban design and part social process, engaging public interest and encouraging direct action – what Malcolm Miles calls ‘action planning’: ‘…if art is socially beneficial, it is in the extent to which it addresses the needs of urban dwellers – by liberating their imaginations, contributing to the design of public spaces and initiating social criticism to articulate the public realm…’ 24

Tactical urbanism belongs to the wider shift in contemporary art towards a more collaborative, transdisciplinary or interdisciplinary25 performative approach.26, 27 If the visual art object is dematerialised in the process of tactical urbanism, it is rematerialised as a physical presence, an installation in its largest sense, in the built environment. Process and outcome are taken, together, to be the ‘installation’. Tactical urbanism expands definitions both of art in the public realm and of architecture, as this re-materialisation is not a stable or permanent form.28 It is a challenge to the customary operational model of visual arts –what it includes, how it works, where it works, who it works with, and for what purposes. The discursive fluidity of site-specific art is a critique not just of the site itself – the lived condition of the urban realm – but of the practice of art-making and the ideological and institutional frameworks that support it.

The art in tactical urbanism is part of a process of creating a ‘convivial city’ 29 and an outcome of ‘convivial space’ – space that is created from usercentred design in a society whose citizens are equal and empowered. The convivial city is a place where creativity is not just limited to artists but can be used by everyone to regenerate the urban realm and to articulate local narratives – either new or revised ones. In the convivial city, tactical urbanism can be a bridge between the public users of a city, decision-makers in positions of formal power and professionals; it can also be a bridge between art practice and protest.

Spontaneous, ephemeral and participatory, tactical urbanism sidesteps formal democratic structures and encourages citizens to become critical, and to act on their own authority. Within this, art may have a special role. The creative process is one of exploration where mistakes can be learnt from and, as seen in the examples cited here, art can break down the imposed formality of the urban realm. If tactical urbanism is to succeed in creating new outcomes, it must operate from outside of the mainstream. From this outside position, decorative and applied visual art ‘…in urban spaces can re-imagine the place of art and the art of place in the city’.30

However, as seen in the examples above, the art process and urban design also need to work together. If the public democratic realm is to be redefined, mainstream actors will be included in some capacity, proactively or reactively, in the

lifecycle of many projects. The Spot, Haringey, London, n42 is a self-made and initially illegal BMX bike park sited on a Grade II disused Victorian settling tank. The Spot was created from stolen materials and by the BMX riders, spurred by the lack of riding facilities in the area. Over the course of its seven years, Haringey Council and English Heritage recognised its positive transformation of the area which had been renowned for drug-use and knife crime. The council has since supported The Spot with a £15K development grant.

The fact that tactical urbanism works from the outside, but in collaboration with insiders, is not as paradoxical as it might seem. This is in the spirit of Joseph Beuys’ ‘social sculpture’, striving to structure and shape society. The social, political and spatial themes that are shared across tactical urbanism projects are indicative of an emerging new form of citizenship. As tactical urbanism gathers

momentum and shares practice with practitioners worldwide, from the local projects may come an awareness of the commonality of issues faced by diverse communities across the world.

This is, however, an emerging field and without as yet a substantial body of research and critical theory to support its claims. As so much of this activity is unfunded, much evidence is at the informal, self-reported and anecdotal level. Whilst it can be appreciated at this anecdotal level that arts-based tactical urbanism contributes both to the re-shaping of urban space and to new models of civic participation, there are many questions about exactly how this can be achieved, how city decision-makers can best learn from and work with such initiatives and understand this emerging form of citizenship. It is made more complex by the fact that this is a form of citizenship which often from the outset wants to remain outside of formal political structures and processes.

Notes n1. http://www.caracourage.net/info/?page_ id=179 n2. http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/research/centrefor-research-and-development-crd n3. http://candychang.com/i-wish-this-was/ n4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/ picture/2011/aug/11/uk-riots-peckhampoundland-tribute

n5. http://openstreetschicago.org/ n6. http://www.favelapainting.com/haashahn n7. http://parkingday.org/ n8. http://knitthecity.com/ n9. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Jac queline+Poncelet+Wrapper&hl=en&rls=com. microsoft:en-GB:%7Breferrer:source?%7D& tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XJdUYD_DsmtO6WigPAF&ved=0CDIQsAQ&bi w=1280&bih=713 n10. http://www.follyforaflyover.co.uk/ n11. http://redballproject.com/ n12. http://axisalley.wordpress.com/ n13. http://www.haque.co.uk/info.php n14. http://www.pps.org/projects/new-yorkcity-streets-renaissance/ n15. http://www.futurefarmers.com/ n16. http://futurefarmers.com/#projects n17. http://futurefarmers.com/#projects/ flatbreadsociety n18. http://futurefarmers.com/#projects/ soilkitchen n19. http://www.bethanybristow.com/index. html

n20. http://www.jwgreynolds.co.uk/index. php?/boarded-up/ n21. http://papergirl-berlin.de/ n22. http://www.twincities.com/life/ ci_22305677/new-model-from-detroit-citythat-crashed-and n23. http://newyork.architectureforhumanity. org/events/2942 n24. http://www.2up2down.org.uk/ n25. http://www.jeanneworks.net/ n26. http://www.biennial.com/ n27. http://www.florianriviere.fr/ n28. http://www.florianriviere.fr/index.php?/ ssaur/ n29. http://www.florianriviere.fr/index.php?/ urban-wild-game/ n30. http://www.florianriviere.fr/index.php?/ urban-fitness/ n31. http://proxysf.net/ n32. http://www.kresge.org/ n33. http://www.kresge.org/sites/default/ files/Detroit-Future-City-planningframework.pdf n34. http://www.spacehijackers.org/ n35. http://sf.urbanprototyping.org/

1. Zeiger, M. (2011), The Interventionist’s Toolkit. The Design Observer Group: http:// places.designobserver.com/feature/theinterventionists-toolkit/24308/

2. SPUR (2010), DIY Urbanism. http://www.spur. org/publications/library/article/diy-urbanism

3. Kwon, M. (2000), ‘One Place After Another: notes on site specificity’ in Suderberg, E. (ed.) Space, Site, Intervention: situating installation art Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press

4. Hannah, D. (2009), ‘City as Event Space: Defying All Calculation’ in Lehmann, S. (ed). Back to the City: strategies for informal urban interventions Berlin: Hatje Cantz

5. Tschumi, B. (2009) in Hannah, ibid., p. 115

6. Schupbach, J. (2012), ‘Defining Creative Placemaking: A Talk with Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa Nicodemus’ in NEA Arts Magazine. http://www.nea.gov/about/nearts/storyNew. php?id=01_defining&issue=2012_v3

7. Klanten, R. and Hübner, M. (2010), Urban Interventions: personal projects in public spaces. Berlin: Gestalten

8. Klanten, R. and Hübner, M., ibid.

9. Graham, A. (2009), in Lehmann, S., op. cit.

32 The Global Phenomenon of Tactical Urbanism as an Indicator of New Forms of Citizenship 96 n36. http://www.gaffta.org/ n37. http://cityrepair.org/ n38. http://www.watershed.co.uk/ playablecity/ n39. http://www.watershed.co.uk/ n40. http://intermediaarts.org/ n41. http://www.nolongerempty.org/ n42. http://thisbigcity.net/guerilla-urbanismlondon-sparks-social-transformation/?utm_ source=This+Big+City+Email+Feed&utm_ medium=email&utm_campaign=6c769f7b88RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN.

10. Hou, J. (2012), Insurgent Public Space: guerrilla urbanism and the remaking of contemporary cities Oxford and New York, NY, Routledge, p. 15

11. Hou, J., ibid., p. 16

12. Lydon, M., Bartman, D., Woudstra, R. and Khawarzad, A. Tactical Urbanism: short term action, long term change. The Street Plans Collective and Next Generation, http://issuu. com/streetplanscollaborative/docs/tactical_ urbanism_vol_2_final

13. O’Connor, J. (2012), Conventional Planning vs ‘Tactical Urbanism’ in Urban Times. http:// urbantimes.co/2012/04/conventionalplanning-vs-tactical-urbanism/

14. Florian Rivière, http://www.florianriviere.fr/ index.php?/about/presentation/

15. Hirsch, T. (2009), ‘Taking Space: expression in the city of fear’ in Public Art Review, vol. 21, no. 1, issue 41, p. 23

16. Hannah, D., in Lehmann, S., op. cit., p. 116

17. Hou, J., op. cit., p. 1

18. Klanten, R. and Hübner, M., op. cit., p. 9

19. Lydon, M. et al., op. cit., p. 1

20. Hadzic, J. (2012), ‘A Creative Approach to Community Building via Creative CityMaking Initiative in Minneapolis, Minnesota’ in Sustainable Cities Collective. http:// sustainablecitiescollective.com/ jasnahadzic/107661/creative-approachcommunity-building-creative-citymakinginitiative-minneapolis-m

21. Newman, T., Curtis, K. and Stephens, J. (2003), ‘Do community-based arts projects result in social gains? A review of literature’ in Community Development Journal, vol. 38, no. 4, October, pp. 310–322

22. Lydon, M. et al., op. cit., p. 1

23. Boenau, A. (2012), ‘CNU20 Report: DIY Urbanism’ in Urban Times. http://urbantimes. co/2012/05/cnu20-report-diy-urbanism/

24. Miles, M. (1997), Art, space and the city: public art and urban futures. Oxford and New York, NY: Routledge, p. 189

25. Lehmann, S. (2009), ‘Hidden in the Urban Fabric: Art and Architecture, a Case Study of Collaboration in Interdisciplinary Contexts’ in Lehmann, S. (ed), Back to the City: strategies for informal urban interventions. Berlin: Hatje Cantz

26. Hannah, D., in Lehmann, S., ibid., p. 114’

27. Yoon, Meejin J. (2009), ‘Projects at Play: Public Works’ in Lehmann, S., op. cit., p. 70

28. Hannah, D., (2009), op. cit., p. 115

29. Miles, M. (1997), op.cit.

30. Messham-Muir, K. (2009), ‘Beneath the Pavement’ in Lehmann, S., op. cit., p. 120

Images

1. Florian Rivière: Candy Kicker Workshop: hack the city into a soccer field with Artitude Gallery (Berlin/Kreuzberg – June 2012). Assistant: Sylvan Steenhuis. Video: http://youtu.be/pSdl0ALE0aI

2. No Longer Empty. Site-specific dance performance, How Much Do I Owe You? exhibition, Queens, New York. 2013. Photo: Whitney Browne

3. CityRepair. Street painting at Sunnyside, SE 33rd & Yamhill, Portland, Oregon, USA. Photo: CityRepair