Urban interventions & citizen participation

[How] can urban interventions contribute for the living together in cities?

Lyubov Jeglova

[How] can urban interventions contribute for the living together in cities?

[How] can urban interventions contribute for the living together in cities?

Research by Lyubov Jeglova

Zurich, 2013 Tutor Imanuel Schipper

MAS Spatial Design

Vernissage: Freitag, 1. Juni, 17-22 U 2.-14. Juni, täglich 12-20 Uhr

Diplomausstellung 2012

Master of Advanced Studies Programme Spatial Design (MAS) *ehem. MAS Scenography

Course Director Dr. Stephan Trüby AADipl.

Zürcher Hochschule der Künste Zurich University of the Arts

Ausstellungsgestaltung 2012: Lyubov Jeglova / Natalia Wespi

MAS Spatial Design Leitung: Dr. Stephan Trüby AADipl.

Künstl. Assistenz: Alexandra Carambellas.

Weitere Infos: http://spatialdesign.zhdk.ch

2. Obergeschoss (Korridor) Ausstellungsstrasse 60 8005 Zürich

Eloisa Avila Barreiro Evangelina Guerra Lujan Corinne Jordan Attila Morocz Ursula Müller Monelle Schäfer Marion Schneider Barbara Wick Brüggner

Academic Associate Alexandra Carambellas

Contents I. Introduction ...................................................................................9 1. Research outline........................................................................9 2. Methodology............................................................................10 II. Supporting community through participatory urban interventions. Introduction of categories .....................................................13 1. Design ....................................................................................14 2. Urban Interventions.................................................................18 3. Social Engagement ..................................................................23 4. Participation ............................................................................25 III. Case Studies...............................................................................31 1. Park Fiction .............................................................................32 2. Cantiere Barca, Raumlabor.......................................................35 3. 72 Hour Urban Action .............................................................38 4. Holding Pattern, Interboro ......................................................42 5. Urban Out - Basel City Gardening Guide ..................................45 6. Streifzug in Freiburg................................................................47 IV. Participation – empowering citizens to take part in the production of urban space....................................................................51 V. Conclusions ................................................................................61

Bibliography....................................................................................63 Illustration credits ...........................................................................67

Introduction

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Introduction Research outline The research project looks at the phenomenon of participatory urban interventions and questions their ability to support community. It investigates the intersection of design, urban intervention, social engagement and participation.

By doing so it tries to show how some contemporary design practices are finding new ways to engage with the urban space and the people who inhabit it as well as to show what influence urban interventions may have on the development of cities.

The interventions considered in this work are the interventions that deal with the aspect of participation, those interventions that in one or another way inspire citizens to take part in urban processes. They are experiments that are carried out in real life, often small in scale and rooted in people’s everyday life.

The importance of these interventions I would argue is their ability to engage people in the production of urban space and awaken interest and responsibility for this production. This in turn can be linked to the idea of ‘the right to the city’1, which emphasizes the right of citizens to take part in the making and remaking of the city by not only using the resources that it provides but also by participating in its production.

The main aim of the research is to questions the ability of participatory urban interventions to contribute for the creation of a stronger community by empowering citizens to take part in the production of urban space and thus to influence the development of our cities and society. The role of the artist or designer in this process will also be examined and considered central for the successful development of a true participatory project.

1 The idea of “the right to the city” was first introduced by Henry Lefebvre in 1968, see Henry Lefebvre, “Writings on Cities”, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996

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Introduction

Methodology The research project offers a theoretical overview of the categories design, urban intervention, social engagement and participation.

Design will attempt to identify the focus of design today and show how widely the term can be considered. The aspects of function, form, exploration and narrative will be introduced and considered in relation to the widening field of influence that design today attempts to cover. This is seen in the emergence of the so called social design that goes beyond formal explorations and addresses social issues.

The spatiality of design will also be analyzed in relation to sociological concepts of space. I will address the relation of design to the production of urban space.

Urban Interventions will attempt to recognize the focus of urban interventions. An overview of methods to tackle this phenomenon will be identified based on the way projects have been addressed in various publications, exhibitions, etc.

It will be argued that urban interventions contribute for the recreation of the city as a site for the emergence of the political.

Social engagement will look at the changing role of the artist or the designer. It will give an overview of the reasons for this change and argue that although creative practices that engage in social issues are often criticized for not being capable to solve issues their role as mediators is important as it mediates the imaginary to the society as proposed by Marjetica Potrč2.

Participation will investigate how the practice has developed within the historical context of the 20th century. It will look at ways of participation introduced today and try to distinguish between real participation and fake participation, participation that has been misused in order to meet profitdriven needs. It will be argued that participation has to be approached critically and that the role of the designer is crucial in this process.

Further the research offers a case study of several participatory urban interventions. It examines the following projects: • Park Fiction, 1994-2005; • Cantiere Barca by Raumlabor, 2011; • 72 hour urban action, 2012;

2 See Marjetica Potrč, “A Vision of the Future City and the Artist’s Role as Mediator”, lecture at Harvard GSD

Introduction • • •

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Holding pattern by Interboro Partners, 2011; Urban Out - Basel City Gardening Guide, 2013; Streifzug in Freiburg by zURBS, 2013.

An overview of the following information is provided for each case study: • Issues addressed; • Development process, duration; • Participation methods; • Project result.

By analyzing the above works the research attempts to identify what is the role of the designer in every case and how it differs from the other cases; what is the role of the participant, as well as the citizen (which is not always the same); what influence, if any, the project has on the community or the space it takes place in.

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Supporting community through participatory urban interventions. Introduction of categories.

Today more than 50 per cent of the global population is living in cities. Cities today are places where difference dominates, where people from different places meet. The diversity of the cities is the result of various factors, one of which is the fast pace of life, the constant change and transition that cities are going through.

The transition state of cities contributes to the change of meaning and value of some terms traditionally associated with city life. Such are for example the terms neighbourhood and community. These categories are becoming more unclear and unstable as well as their value.

Be this because these terms are traditionally linked to a specific place while our lives are less and less dependent on place. And with this the sense of the need to be part of a community is fading.

However I believe that this sense needs to be reimagined in a way that community, possibly in a new form, becomes again part of people’s life where central to the community should be the city on very different scales that would be shared by all or many people. Through this reimagined community people would have the knowledge about the diversity that surrounds them and the freedom to interact with it.

Below I will look at four categories which in my opinion can contribute for the reimagining of community and with it of the city. These are the categories of design, urban intervention, social engagement and participation.

I will examine how these categories intertwine in order to engage with the urban space. As a result of such intertwining we see projects that deal with an actual physical space, where residents of this space are encouraged to start the appropriation of this space. Through this process they become more familiar and closer to the space they inhabit and the other people who inhabit it. But also a design object is created through which a new culture of living and engaging with the city is proposed.

These projects I see as experiments that are possible because of the cur-

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rent transformation process of society which gives possibility for imagining and testing what the future form of living in cities could be.

Design The first category to be introduced in this work is the category ‘design’, which undoubtedly is very vast and will be viewed here mainly in relation to sociality and (urban) space.

What is design?

I will start by trying to answer the above question. The word ‘design’ originates from the Latin ‘designare’ which means to mark out, devise, choose, designate or appoint. Therefore to design means to mark out in signs what is to be made. Design can be on the one hand the plan of the future object as well as the process of creating this plan. The designer as the creator of the plan is not necessary the creator of the object itself. He is the one who envisions the future by imagining different possibilities, “he leaps from an understanding of what there is now to what there will be if his design is realized.” 1 Design as a process structures the world around us and organizes it for our use. For example through design the everyday objects that accompany our life are created.

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and is helped by the selective powers of experience which allows access to a generic sense of where one wants to go, but can never foreclose on the generic nature of that vision, without reducing design to reproduction.

Design is exploratory, use-seeking; at least that is the nature of creativity in design.”3 The creativity of design today can be seen also in the way design is spreading to different aspects of life. And although design can be considered a meta-action for any kind of creation today design is seeking to go beyond the aspects of function, form and exploration but also to position itself in the wider context of society. This is done by introducing the aspect of narrative by which stories are implied and positions are defined.

Social design and the spatiality of design

Function and form are two aspects of design that have been always present in the design discourse. Design as something that is use driven is inevitably dependent on functionality and as modernism famously proposed “[t]hat form ever follows function. This is the law.”2 Yet if design would be purely function and purpose driven then it could be reduced to reproduction. This however is not the case as design is also characterized by exploration and innovation seeking. This in turns can be form driven as well as use driven.

Design “is driven by search, selection and practice; it explores the possible

In brief social design can be defined as a design process that intends to address social issues and by doing so to contribute for a more just society.

The emergence of socially engaged design and the reasons for this will be reviewed in the chapter dedicated to social engagement. Here however I would like to turn to the relation of social design to the notion of space.

Theories of space have developed from an understanding of space as a background against which societal processes can take place to the relational understanding of space where it is constantly being influenced by the everyday lives of people. This makes space an essential part of social processes.

In brief the development of space theories can be presented as follows: • Finite space as seen by Aristotle, where the planet Earth is at rest in the centre of the universe which is limited by fixed stars. Later Einstein termed this understanding of space the ‘container’ space.

• Absolute space was introduced by Isaac Newton. His space was independent from the material world and infinite in its vastness. It allowed for the definition of positions relative to one another within this absolute space.

• Relativist understanding of space emerged with Einstein’s theory of relativity. It saw space and time no longer as absolutes, but rather as de-

1 Jacob Voorthuis, “design//an endless questionnaire”, accessed at 2 Louis H. Sullivan, “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered”, http://www. giarts.org/article/tall-office-building-artistically-considered-excerpt

3 Jacob Voorthuis, “A Generous Use: Design, Spatial Practice, Situationality and the Concept of Justice”, accessed at http://www.voorthuis.net/Pages/A%20generous%20use_jctv. pdf

Function, form, exploration and narrative

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pendent on the observer. Space was seen as the result of the position and state of bodies relative to the observer’s frame of reference, and since the state of a given body is constantly changing, space too can no longer be treated as unchanging.

The relativist understanding of space allows for the presentation of spaces in various ways depending on the standpoint of the observer. This however may limit the understanding of space as the result of the relative position of objects to one another.4 The introduction of the concept of relational space brought space theory to a totally new level.

A brief overview of three concepts that have influenced the development of the relational space theory is presented below: • Henri Lefebvre introduced the concept of space focusing on the role of space in societal production mechanisms. ‘Social space’ for him “contains a great diversity of objects, both natural and social, including the networks and pathways which facilitate the exchange of material things and information. Such ‘objects’ are thus not only things but also relations. As objects, they possess discernible peculiarities, contour and form. Social labour transforms them, rearranging their positions within spatio-temporal configurations without necessarily affecting their materiality, their natural state.”5 Social space is “the space of society, of social life. Man does not live by words alone; all ‘subjects’ are situated in a space in which they must either recognize themselves or lose themselves, a space which they may both enjoy and modify.”6 • Peirre Bourdieu has extended the concept of relativist vision of space by stating that both the objects in terms of their materiality and the relationships between these objects have an equal importance for the production of space. Bourdieu opposes physical space to social space.

The latter he suggests can be represented in an abstract way as a multidimensional set of relations which are understood similarly to closeness and distance in regards to geographical spaces. As social space remains abstract in the understanding of Bourdieu it cannot be related to the

4 Sergej Stoetzer, “Space Thinks. Sociological concepts of space”, accessed at http:// www.space-thinks.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/theorie_stoelzel_e.pdf 5 Henri Lefebvre, “The production of Space”, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, p.77 6 ibid. p.35

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physical space that is being witnessed.7 • Martina Löw proposes a model of space that did not treat social, physical and geographical space independently. Rather she proposed the ‘relational’ concept of space, which focuses on the ‘orderings’ of living entities and social goods, and examines how space is constituted in processes of perception, recall, or ideation to manifest itself as societal structure.8 Löw introduced two processes that produce space. Spacing as “the positioning of social objects and people and of primarily symbolic markings in order to denote as such ensembles of objects and people.”9 Synthesis is necessary for the structuring of space where the elements that compose it are actively interlinked by people in processes of perception, imagination, or remembering. “Spacing and the synthesis process are both subject to predefined conditions and depend on the nature of actions: Societal notions of space, and class-specific, genderspecific and culturally specific habitus all influence these processes; they are also affected by the location of the synthesis process and the external influence of the social objects and people already present. In addition, one can only ‘place’ that which is available in a given action situation – in other words, spacing processes are negotiation processes based on the symbolic and material goods (and beings) present in a given location; these processes do not take place in a power vacuum.”10 After this overview of the concept of space I come back to design and it would be fair to ask the question here how does the relational understanding of space influence design, what new opportunities does it give?

On a theoretical level it contributes to the development of new approaches to design processes that deal with space, i.e. the introduction of the term spatial design, where the understanding of space as relational is central.

Spatial design suggests that the concept of space also involves action.

Characteristic of social design is that the design object is taking the form of a process, the action in space, where the means have a priority to the end result. It is often the case that actions take place in the urban space. So how is then the urban space designed? Urban space can be considered as 7 Stoetzer, op.cit.

8 Martina Löw, “The Constitution of Space: The Structuration of Spaces Through the Simultaneity of Effects and Perception”, European Journal of Social Theory, 1, 11, 2008 9 Martina Löw, “Raumsoziologie” Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2001 10 Stoetzer, op. cit.

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the result of multiple processes – everyday actions, collective and individual memories, relations between objects, the very being of these objects, the creation of objects, etc. Then the question could be formulated as which of these processes can actually be designed?

If designing is understood as imagining the future state of affairs, then everyday actions could be designed, objects and to some extend relations could be designed.

A shift in design is seen in the way urban space is addressed. This can be viewed on the example of urban interventions which introduce new ways of approaching design, urban space production, the role of the designer and the citizen in this process.

Urban interventions Urban interventions are activities that fall under a wide range of definitions.

Therefore I would start by looking at the meaning of the words ‘intervention’ and ‘urban’.

Intervention comes from the Latin intervenire “to come between, interrupt,” from inter - “between” + venire - “come”. Urban also comes from the Latin urbanus “of or pertaining to a city or city life.”

From here we have something that comes in-between city life, something that interrupts or disturbs the city life. Here it would be right to ask the question what is the city life, its current state and why it needs to be disturbed?

Urban interventions within the framework of this research First of all I would like to make a note about the way urban interventions will be approached in this work. Here the concept of urban interventions is analyzed only from the point of view of spatial design practices. I will look at interventions that have been developed by design or artistic practices which also invite citizens to take part in the design process of these projects. These works are often rooted in the everyday life of people, small in scale with a local focus, dealing with community or neighbourhood.

In order to situate participatory urban interventions within the wider field of urban interventions I would like to give a brief overlook of the various urban interventions that have been taking place recently or more concretely

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of the way they have been addressed in various publications, exhibitions, etc. How are the various concepts of urban interventions tackled today?

Ways of addressing urban interventions Due to their growing popularity there have been a number of publications that focus on the phenomenon of urban interventions. Examples of such publications are “Urban Interventions: Personal Projects in Public Places”, “Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities”, “Tactical Urbanism Vol.2.”

Each of these publications chose a different way of approaching urban interventions which is reflected in the various ways the projects studied have been categorized. The issue of urban interventions is tackled from different angles and by a variety of ways.

The book “Urban Interventions: Personal Projects in Public Places”11 presents the projects in the following categories: urban canvas, localized, attachments, public privacy, activated, advertised and natural ways. Many artistic interventions are presented in the book starting with the first category Urban canvas that shows projects that are using the urban surface in an experimental way that goes beyond street art. Similar works to the ones presented in the first category are illustrated in the section under the name Localized. However the specificity of these projects lies in their critical approach towards the context where they are done. Example of such projects is often writings on buildings or public message boards aimed at sparking civic engagement. The next category Attachments takes the interventions to a three-dimensional level trough different types of extensions and addons in public space. Public privacy presents projects where one’s personal life is taken out into the public space. The works attempt to encourage “community ownership of public spaces previously occupied by the city municipality of corporate forces of globalization.”12 The next category Activated looks at performative urban interventions. Advertised questions the commercial signage of our cities through creative actions. The last category presented in the book Natural ways focuses on urban interventions that find various ways to bring nature back to the city.

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Matthias Hübner, Robert Klanten, “Urban Interventions: Personal Projects in Public

Places”, Berlin: Gestalten, 2010 12 ibid., p.133

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Through the great amount of projects presented the publications chooses to emphasize on the great variety of urban interventions that have emerged in recent years and on their differences. It encompasses critical works that question or cities and society as well as playful, experimental and less serious projects.

The book “Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla urbanism and the remaking of contemporary cities”13 on the other hand gives a more focused overview of urban interventions in relation to public space. The interventions presented in the book are considered to be acts of resistance. They oppose themselves to the conventional concept of public space which is confined to the standard categories of neighbourhood parks, public squares, and civic architecture.14 The book examines citizens’ initiatives that are rooted in everyday life – these could be informal initiatives that contribute to the creation or remaking of public space. Sometimes these initiatives may avoid existing rules and regulations, be done spontaneously or secretly.

As the editor of the book Jeffrey Hou argues “although these everyday expressions of public space activism might not have the appearance of radical insurgency, it should be noted that many of the outcomes would not have been possible without extensive grassroots struggle.”15 The book tries to analyze these new forms of production of public spaces. It focuses on activities, expressions and relationships that emerged as a response to opportunities, constraints and transformations of contemporary society.

In this book again the projects are presented in several categories depending on their relation to public space.

Appropriating presents projects which through their actions change the purpose of a particular public space. Reclaiming shows interventions that focus their forces on the adaptation or reuse of abandoned or underutilized urban spaces where specific sites are being remade in order to provide new spaces for communication and encounter. Pluralizing focuses on the way ethnic groups change the meaning and functions of public space, which contributes to the creation of a more diverse urban space. Transgressing represents projects that blur the boundaries of private and public.

Uncovering shows projects that contribute to the remaking and rediscovery 13 Hou, Jeffrey, “Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities”, London: Routledge, 2010 14 ibid. p.2 15 ibid. p.10

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of public space through revealing lost memories of the urban space. The last category, Contesting, focuses on struggles over rights, identities and meanings in the public realm.

By focusing on public space and its recreation the projects presented in the book show how different groups and individuals are remaking the city in a new and unconventional way.

The next publication that I would briefly like to talk about is “Tactical urbanism. Short-term actions || Long-term change.”16 The book was created by The Street Plans Collaborative - a research practice that focuses on urban planning and design. In their book they present the various tactics that can be used to realize interventions in the urban space. These include such projects/tactics as Parking Day, Open Streets, Pop-up cafes, Chair bombing, Weed bombing and so on. Here the names of the projects quite clearly represent the action that has been carried out in the urban space.

By presenting the projects as tactics the authors suggest that these tactics can be used as guide lines to perform the interventions in other locations.

However what I consider important is that these projects should not be multiplied in different locations without prior investigation of the concrete urban space. One needs to understand the specific situation in order to intervene. I would argue that only in this case the critical approache of urban interventions can be preserved.

Another way to approach the concept of urban interventions can be seen in the exhibition Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the common good presented at the U.S. pavilion at the 2012 Architecture Biennale in Venice. Here the projects are categorized according to the problems they address, which are the following: “(1) urban blight, crumbling infrastructure, and disinvestment in cities; (2) unsafe, banal, or wasted places created by autocentric planning; (3) vacancies, property abandonment, and damaged landscapes defined by shrinking cities (related to postindustrial job loss); (4) a different order of vacancies left by the post-speculation real estate bust; (5) lack of access to amenities (such as open space, parks, playgrounds, culture, recreation, fresh healthy food, etc.); (6) insufficient mobility options; (7) pollution; (8) disenfranchisement, exclusion, social alienation, and lack of information or knowledge about how to participate in civic affairs; (9) privatization or corporatization of public space; and (10) surplus or underutilized spaces caused by hasty, insensitive, or over16

pdf of the publication can be accessed on http://tacticalurbanismsalon.com/TUV2

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development.”17 The attempt of the exhibition is to show how urban interventions can contribute for the common good. In the case of the presented projects the common good is achieved by influencing and remaking our cities, by dreaming of an ideal future city that can only be achieved by taking actions in the city of today.

The exhibition at the Venice Biennale opens up even more the concept of urban interventions by presenting works that fall on first glance in a different category such as web platforms and applications that engage citizens to take a more active part in the life of the urban environment and thus to intervene with it.

Urban interventions as means of bringing the political back to the public space Based on the above examples the following conclusions about the way urban interventions have been addressed can be drawn: • Focus on variety of uses of the city fabric; • Focus on relation to public space; • Focus on tactics and toolkits; • Focus on issues approached.

Regardless of the slightly different focus all examples show ways to reengage with the city, to question the condition of contemporary cities as well as maybe the willingness and courage of people (whether “ordinary” citizens, community activists, artists, urban designers, etc.) to take part in the life of cities.

The desire to remake and influence our lived environments is now taking place in the public space. The city is again becoming the site for the emergence of the political. Opening up the spaces of the political is what urban interventions can do by revealing issues that have been hidden from the public, censored or in the words of Jacques Rancière by making thinks sayable, seeable and hearable.18 Urban interventions can thus be seen as attempts to humanize cities, 17 Cathy Lang Ho, “Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good”, http://www.spontaneousinterventions.org/statements, 18 Erik Swyngedouw, interview at the conference reART:theURBAN, 2012, http://www. rearttheurban.org/info/Swyngedouw.html

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which are characterized by extreme difference, disagreement and conflict.

The intention of urban interventions to humanize, recreate or improve cities can be seen as part of a more general engagement of the creative practices in societal issues.

Social engagement Social engagement in general terms can be described as one’s participation in the activities of a certain social group, the participation in the life of a community which can be characterized by different activities that are aimed at strengthening the social capital of this group.19 Social engagement of creative practices Within the framework of this work social engagement will be viewed in relation to creative practices. How is social engagement visible in the work of such practices? Why do designers, artists and other creative practices get involved in socially engaged issues? Should they do so and what does this involvement bring?

Against the background of the current development of the world where social inequality is growing rapidly the engagement of artists and designers in social issues seems to be justified and symptomatic.

Social engagement of creative practices has always been related to broader historical contexts and therefore needs to be placed within the history of social movements of the 20th century. To note just a few of these movements: the Civil rights movement, Paris ’68, the women’s movement, various environmental movements and others.

The issues addressed through these movements and the work of socially engaged artists and designers are vast. They include: environment, sustainability, gender, race, segregation, gentrification, housing and homelessness, war, etc.

Socially engaged art is currently becoming a growing, global phenomenon. And although it is often considered that social issues are not to be solved by artists, artists do dare to address such issues with the hope to influence the development of the world through their works. Most often socially engaged art is opposing itself to the spectacular reality of the world 19

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engagement

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that we are living in, where often objects are produced merely for the purpose of profit. Socially engaged art to the contrary is an attempt to bring meaning to an “era of vast spectacle.”20 Intentions of socially engaged works Often socially engaged works proposed by creative practices are criticized for their incapability to solve problems – as they mostly question thinks rather than propose solutions. The problem thus remains open for other institutions to decipher regardless the good intentions of the designer.

In addition socially engaged works can be used for example by city authorities in order to achieve other meanings than intended by the designer serving capitalist purposes. A rather popular example of such a case is the gentrification of neighbourhoods where creative works on the one hand contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and on the other hand gentrify the area, causing land value to rise.

As the artist Marjetica Potrc suggests in relation to this critique the role of the designer and the artist changes in relation to policy’s change. This role is no longer the role of an autonomous being that cannot get involved in social issues. She sees the artist as a mediator, who “mediates the imaginary to the society.”21 New methodology of socially engaged practices In order for the designer to act as a mediator a set of new skills and methods is introduced. “[S]ocial works must encounter the complicated terrain of people—in all of their complexity. From language to sociology, from pedagogy to urban planning, the skill sets needed for this way of working are vast, while rigor is understandably lacking.”22 New methods that are introduced by creative practices focus more on the process of work than on the end result. They interweave participation, conversation, ‘the civic’, research, online networking, etc.

20 Nato Thompson, “Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011”, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012, p.30 21 Marjetica Potrč, “A Vision of the Future City and the Artist’s Role as Mediator”, lecture at Harvard GSD 22 Margaret Crawford, “Socially Engaged Art is a Mess worth Making”, http://www. spontaneousinterventions.org

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Artist and designers are motivated by the desire to place their work in the real world and by doing so to address local issues, to invite people to take part in the creation of the work itself and by doing so to give these people the opportunity to make a change. The concept of participation will be reviewed in more detail further in the work.

Due to the radical shift in the way some creative practices work when addressing social issues a certain blurring between the different practices is evident. It is not always easy to distinguish the difference between an artist, designer, architect or an urban planner. To achieve their goals they are forced to borrow methods from each other, as well as from other disciplines.

The interdisciplinarity of these practices brings them closer to the everyday life of cities as many of the works are located in the urban space. This in turn can be considered symptomatic for the cultural production at the beginning of the 21st century.

Participation Participation will be viewed here as a method proposed by creative practices in socially engaged works.

The term participation generally speaking stands to describe the different mechanisms for the public to take part in decision making which can address different spheres of the life of society.

Participation within the framework of this research In this work I would like to look at the term participation and its relation to design and spatial practices and how these practices have been trying to engage citizens in the creation process. As the work is focused on urban space and the interventions that take place in this space the term participation will be viewed as the empowerment of citizens to take part in urban processes. In short I will be dealing with participation proposed by creative practices that addresses the urban space and its production.

What does it mean to participate in the production of urban space? And why do we need to participate in the production of urban space? I will try to address these questions throughout this work. For me their importance lies in their ability to navigate us to a better understanding of the citizen and

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his/her role and right in the city.

Participatory practices within the historical context of 20th century As described by Claire Bishop in her book ‘Artificial Hells’ where she looks at participatory artistic practices, participatory practices that have taken place in the 20th century have been opposed to spectatorship and consumerism and have always been linked to the social and political events that have shaped the past century. She particularly emphasizes that participatory art is the symptom of the clash between artistic and social critiques. This clash “…tends to occur at moments of political transition and upheaval: in the years leading to Italian Fascism, in the aftermath of the 1917 Revolution, in the widespread social dissent that led to 1968, and its aftermath in the 1970s. At each historical moment participatory art takes a different form, because it seeks to negate different artistic and sociopolitical objects.

In our own times, its resurgence accompanies the consequences of the collapse of really existing communism in 1989, the apparent absence of a viable left alternative, the emergence of contemporary “post-political” consensus, and the near total marketization of art and education.”23 In other words the appearance of participatory practices throughout the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century has been linked with the five major crises, which are:

1917: The crisis after the end of World War I, and the victory of the Russian revolution, the Weimar Republic.

1929: The Great Depression, the triumph of fascism, the New Deal.

1968: The Civil Rights Movement, the new left, the student protests, the Vietnam war.

1990: The crisis of really existing socialism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

2008: Today’s more-than-financial crisis.24

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protest.

Creative participatory practices have developed parallel to or in support of political participation. They were positioned against the commodification, alienation and spectacle. The “desire to activate the audience in participatory art is at the same time a drive to emancipate it from a state of alienation induced by the dominant ideological order – be this consumer capitalism, totalitarian socialism, or military dictatorship.”25 Among the examples of participatory artistic practices of the 20th century are Futurism and Constructivism, the Dada movement, the Situationist International, Collective Action Group.

As for today’s situation is oftentimes compared to the crisis of 1968 as both these crises can be considered urban crises26 I will look at the work of the Situationist International that emerged around the events of 1968.

The Situationists International were active in the late 50s and 60s and have inspired many contemporary practices with their work that was opposed to alienation and capitalism. With their proposals they tried to bring more attention to everyday life and its diversity. This was done by the introduction and practice of the derive (drifting). The derive was a research tool that the Situationists used in the study of the effects an environment can have on the emotions and behavior of an individual – ‘psychgeography’.

The derive was aimed at increasing one’s awareness about the surrounding urban space.

Although the Situationists did not actually propose to the public to take part in the derives but rather they were practiced by the group members only, the Situationists approach to the city and to one’s experience of the city is important for its experimental and innovative character. Their approach is seeing a revival through different works in recent years. Entire conferences on the topic of psyhogeography are being held where artists invite citizens to take part in walks and events and to experience the city in a new way.

How is the city approached today? Ways of participation

It would be fair to say that the main form of participation in the time of crises was the political participation characterized by political action and 23 Claire Bishop, “Artificial Hells”, London: Verso, 2012, p.277 24 Peter Marcuse, Whose right(s) to what city? “Cities for people, not for profit”, London: Routledge, 2012, p.27

Attention to the city and citizens’ engagement in the life of the city has been observed recently. Different creative practices are trying to find new 25 26

Claire Bishop, op. cit., p.275 For more information see David Harvey, “Rebel Cities”, London: Verso 2012

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forms of engaging with the urban space and its inhabitants.

The examples of participatory engagement vary a lot. Some architects and urban planners invite residents to take part in the decision making processes of neighbourhood development. This is often done through various meetings, discussions or workshops that seek to inform the residents about the future development plans of a neighbourhood but also ask for feedback and ideas from the residents themselves.

Other practices create web-platforms and mobile applications through which citizens are can report any errors in the city and thus are encouraged to take care of the city and be more conscious about the space they live in.

The examples continue with design practices that propose collective construction of objects e.i. pavilions or street furniture. But apart from constructing the items participants are encouraged to organize events within the space created thus building stronger bonds within the community. Many of these projects also deal with the playful aspect of construction.

Participation can also be linked to various actions that have emerged in opposition to city development plans. In this case citizens are driven by the idea to reclaim the urban space, the future of which often is decided depending on the profit this space could provide to the city.

I would add to the list of examples also such participatory events as city walks and urban play which are once again aimed at making citizens more aware of the space they inhabit.

Although the forms of participation are vastly varied and aim to have an inclusionary character it is important to remember that all-inclusive processes are to a big extend impossible. But there is I would say no reason to attempt to include everybody at the same time in a decision making process.

However this intention may be linked to the contemporary misuse of participation in the name of achieving a fake consensus. This idea is largely developed by Markus Miessen in the book “The Nightmare of Participation”27, where he argues that participation or rather its misuse has become the default of politicians withdrawing from responsibility through romantic notions of negotiation, inclusion, and democratic decision-making. Miessen attempts to inverse the concept of participation and propose an alternative 27 Markus Miessen, “The Nightmare of participation (Crossbench Praxis as a Mode of Criticality)”, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2011

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practice that engages with spatial projects and political realities.

Based on the analysis of the case studies that will follow I will try to argue that responsibility for the production of urban space should be approached on a very general level, where all citizens should be responsible for this production accordingly.

After all no matter if we are city mayors, architects, shop-keepers or couriers we are in one or another way responsible for the city we live in like for our home.

Therefore I would argue participatory projects can and should be addressed critically in order to avoid the misuse of this method. And for this I would say the role of the designer at this point is very crucial. He is to ‘mediate’ not only the imaginary to the citizens but also the sense of responsibility. And as Henri Lefebvre proposed ‘the right to the city’ should not only be considered as the right to access resources and use the city but it should be even more considered as taking part in the production of the urban space, and by producing the city taking responsibility for it.

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Case Studies In the case studies presented below I will look at a number of participatory urban interventions that will be categorized according to the form of participation proposed. The categories will include: community activism; community engagement; collective construction and city walks. Community activism stands for interventions where the driving force came to a great extend from the inhabitants of a certain place and when their actions where addressed toward a common cause. Community engagement looks at projects that were led by a certain creative practice that engaged people to take part in the development of the project. Such projects are often based on the specialty of a certain place and the needs of the people living there. They are an attempt to contribute to the involvement of people in the development of a niegbourhood, to community support or integration of groups of people. Collective construction is a form of community engagement that is based around the process of building together. Oftentimes practices invite residents to take part in the construction of various objects like pavilions, street furniture, stages, and playgrounds. Here the process of building brings people together. The created object then often serves as a place where events can take place like talks, concerts, screenings, etc.

Such projects are often aimed at giving faith to the participants that they are capable of contributing to the better development of the urban space.

The last category that is proposed is City Walks. These walks take participants on a trip through the city with the aim to provide a new experience and vision of the usual surrounding. The walks surveyed are walks that I have personally participated in whereas for the other case studies I have used available sources in order to analyze them.

Some of the presented case studies can be placed in more than just one of the proposed categories.

The aim of the case studies is to examine the various types of urban interventions and forms of participation they propose. How do these interventions engage citizens in the projects? What is the role of the designer,

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the participant and the citizen? How do these works influence community or the space they are taking place in?

Park Fiction Issues addressed Park Fiction is a project that took place between 1994 and 2005 in the neighbourhood of St. Pauli in Hamburg, Germany. It developed out of a campaign that was started by residents against the development of a site in the harbor area of Hamburg. According to the development plan of this area a new housing and office project was to be executed there. However the residents’ association had a different vision for the development of the area and developed an alternative proposal for the future use of the harbor area. The proposal of the residents was a public park.

Development process & participation methods Although the Park Fiction project was a collective and participatory project it was led by a number of key figures: the artist Christoph Schaefer, the film-maker Margit Czenki and Ellen Schmeisser.

As Christoph Schaefer describes the prosess of the project at one of the lectures dedicated to the project held at the MIT on September 28, 20091, the project was initiated by the idea of collective production of desires rather than an opposition or a fight with the city.

The first thing that was proposed by the participants in this project was the so-called American-style protest signs that reflected the different desires of the residents. These signs were put on the site the future of which was to be decided.

To push forward the project a neighbourhood network was created. It linked together different institutions like the St. Pauli church, the St. Pauli School, the Children’s Home, the Hafenstrasse, The Golden Puddle club and others.

The self-entitled organization started a parallel planning process but it also worked as a platform for other things, like for example different cam1 Lecture can be accessed here: http://video.mit.edu/watch/christoph-schaeferfactory-city-4585/

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paigns of teaching each other.

One of the key strategies of the project was to make each other cleverer and more informed. This was done through a series of lectures and screenings. It started with lectures on parks and politics which focused more on the idea of parks as places for social encounter rather than on ecological aspects. Other various lectures were held that introduced the residents to the history of parks and urban development. Exhibitions in public space were organized as well as various tours.

One of the important tools that were created was the planning container which served as the archive of desires. It could me moved throughout the city to collect the wishes of the residents.

Another idea of the project was the actualization of failed ideas or ideas betrayed in the past like the participatory planning methods from the 80s.

An example is the action kit that was developed which was a portable planning studio, where one could make audio recordings, there were drafting tools and a harbor panorama with little things and figures. All the panoramas that were received from the residents were placed in the archive of desires.

The approach towards the planning process was to organize it in the form of a game. Game boards were created where one could see where and how to participate. Also for example the leading figures in the planning process were wearing jackets with “Park Fiction” written on them. This helped people identify them and approach them with their ideas on the project.

Various other tools were introduced such as questionnaires, workshops, garden library, etc.

One of the crucial steps in the development of the project was the participation at the Dokumenta 11 exhibition. There an archive of the process was exhibited organized according to the following themes: production of desires; embedded with bureaucracy; tools; infotainment; interventionist residence. Further one year later the exhibition was shown at St. Pauli.

To a large extent the participation at the Dokmenta 11 helped carve the way of the project to its realization.

The realization process itself was based around the idea of doing something and by doing it to make it real.

It took quite a long time to start with the actual realization of the project and although the planning process was finished in 1999 the realization itself started only 4 years later. It started with illegal actions like for example

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the placing of an illegal construction sign.

The park itself was built around the desires collected during the planning process. It consisted of many different elements like the tulip pattern tartan field as imagined by a Turkish girl; a palm tree island, a flying carpet; a chess game; Greek theatre; 4 square meter carrot field, dog garden, puddle shaped hedge. The Golden Puddle Club that is located next to the park was important for the promotion of the project ideas – by having artists and musicians involved it was much easier to find ways to approach the residents.

In 2005 the park was finally realized. What made it possible was the promotion and making it widely known as for in this way it was very difficult for the authorities to block the project.

Although Park Fiction can be considered a big participatory project that engaged many people in the planning process the project itself was pushed forward in its most active part by a group of about 10 people.

Apart from pushing the project forward and negotiating this with authorities I would argue that the role of this group of people was crucial as it

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provided knowledge to the residents of St. Pauli. With this it helped people become more aware of the different possibilities that there were for the future development of the harbour area and develop their vision for this development. It could be said that the project also encouraged responsibility among the residents. This can be seen in the activities and campaigns that are emerging linked to the current process of gentrification of St. Pauli.

Back in the 90s the Park Fiction project was initiated by a rather small group of creative people that managed to gather the residents and make them part of the process of reclaiming the urban space for the needs of the people who inhabit it. Now in the new struggles for the city these people are the figures that initiate activities in order to have a neihbourhood that could meet not only the needs of the developers but also the residents.

Thus we can say that the Park Fiction project had a very strong impact on the community by making people believe that they can take part in the development of their neighbourhood which can be seen in the actions the residents undertake.

Cantiere Barca, Raumlabor Many of Raumlabor’s urban interventions introduce the concept of collective construction, when people are invited to participate in the process of building some kind of a structure together. In this case study I will focus on the project Cantiere Barca by Raumlabor that is based on the idea of collective construction but can also be placed in the category of community engagement.

“Cantiere Barca” is a workshop that took place in the neighbourhood Barca in Torino. Cantiere from Italian means construction.

Issues addressed The aim of the workshop was “to establish a space of communication, common activity and discussion with young people from Barca and Bertolla in their neighborhood.”2 “The project aims at promoting youth creativity in a place where the conditions of young people are difficult. The goal was to develop with the community a process of re-appropriation and exploitation

Image 01. park fiction

2

www.raumlabor.net

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of urban space.”3 The collectively designed place was intended to function not only as a meeting point for the neighbourhood but also as an art object that would enrich the center of Barca.

Barca The neighbourhood of Barca is a modern suburb on the outskirts of Torino.

There is housing, some schools, few playgrounds, a small care center with a supermarket but no significant attractions for the young people living there. There is a small bar on a meadow and an inhospitable building which provides some social services.

Development process

3

www.raumlabor.net

Image 02.

Cantiere barca workshop

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The starting point of the design was the old social centre, from where different objects like benches, a stage, a soccer field and a hiding place were developed and built. During the building process the young people from the neighbourhood were encouraged to learn how to handle woodworking tools.

In a preparatory stage prior to the project two anthropologists acted as cultural mediators by organizing different talks, lectures and on-site surveys with the residents. The needs and desires of the young people were later communicated to Raumlabor.

As commented by Raumlabor this kind of approach to art in public space is very radical as it is organized over a bottom-up scheme. “Directly on the site discussions with all interested residents were organized that asked what should be changed, what the common goals and opportunities were.

The suggested ideas and demands were then not only formulated and developed but also the first steps to realize them were taken by the participants themselves.”4 In a second phase, the young people of the neighbourhood learned how to work with wood materials and different tools, built gates for a football field, a ping pong table, a stage, and finally the “Star House”. With recycled materials and production waste materials they created a three meter high observation room for Barca.

The aim of the third and final workshop was to improve and repair all that has been built together from the beginning of the workshop. It was also aimed at encouraging the young people of the neighbourhood to take care of the space that they have conquered and thus reaffirm their claim for it. Additional a workshop space was organized in the neighbourhood to be used continuously by the residents.

As proposed by Raumlabor “Through the process of realizing a collective idea the participants experienced that it is possible to make changes in their living environment.”

For me here comes the question why people have actually lost faith that they can change their living environment. And did they ever have the opportunity to create or remake the places they inhabit? I believe they did and still do however there might a lack of interest or consideration in taking part in the life of the city. Thus a mediator in the form of an artist or designer 4 htm

Article about the project on http://www.goethe.de/prs/mif/m12/sep/de9777046.

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is needed in order to encourage such participation. In the case of Cantiere Barca, Raumlabor can be seen exactly as mediators who inspired citizens to imagine a better urban space and take the first steps to realize it.

72 Hour Urban Action 72 Hour Urban Action is an international real-time architecture competition.

Designers, architects and a variety of creative people gather together for 3 days and 3 nights to design and build interventions that meet the needs of the local community.

As proposed by the 72 Hour Urban Action team “Urban Action is a civic design practice that involves residents, decision makers and professionals. It harnesses creative thinking and existing resources within a community to rapidly make places. Through the power of temporality and experimentation, it encourages participation and a lasting change of perception.

Through an extreme deadline, a tight budget and limited space, Urban Action sets the imagination free to allow for new possibilities and players in public space.”5 I will focus here on the second edition of the competition that took place in Stuttgart during the summer of 2012.

Wagenhallen And The Nordbahnhof Area The site for the competition was located in the very centre of Stuttgart – the Wagenhallen area and the Nordbahnhof neighbourhood. This is the area which is mostly affected by the railway and urban redevelopment plan Stuttgart 21. The plan foresees a renewed Stuttgart Central Station where the current 17-track station is to be replaced by an underground 8-track through-station. As a result, land for new development will be provided.6 Today the Nordbahnhof area is a small residential area, where many immigrants from all-over the world live. Due to the lack of affordable housing in the city, Nordbahnhof has also become the place where many students and young people live.

The Wagenhallen, a former industrial hall, is located in the centre of the area. It was built in 1895 as a locomotive repair hangar. Later it was used as 5 6

http://www.72hoururbanaction.com/#!about/c139r http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart_21

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a garage for regional buses. Then in the mid-2000’s the Wagenhallen was left unused for about 5 years. Due to the long delay in planning the Stuttgart 21 the Wagenhallen was given for temporary use. It hosts now ateliers and presentation spaces of around 80 artists. A platform for independent art was founded there – the Kunstverein Wagenhallen e.V.. Through the different transformations that have taken place and the new uses that the area has inspired the Wagenhallen area has turned into a very special place.

The site is unlike any other area of the city - it is filled with traces of the old railway uses that now have been transformed by artists and activists.7 Issues addressed The issue that was addressed by the 72 Hour Urban Action team was the barrier that still existed between the artists of the Wagenhallen and some of the residents of the neighbourhood. They saw the 72 Hour Urban Action as a tool to connect the artists and the residents of the neighbourhood through a bottom-up development process.

Development process Ten teams of about ten people in each team participated in the competition. On an orientation day the participants were introduced to the area and the city of Stuttgart. More than a hundred of people in orange working suits walked the streets of Stuttgart to manifest their desire to contribute for a better public space in the city.

On take-off day teams were assigned missions that would respond to the local needs of the Nordbahnhof area. Each mission was linked to a specific site in the neighbourhood. The ten missions were: 1. Fill the in-between space with meaning – questioning the quality of the public space of the only pedestrian street in the area; 2. Create an interface for engagement – A small patch of asphalt is the de-facto information center and northern entrance to the Wagenhallen; 3. Create a non-judgemental courtyard – questions the use of a for7 The Wagenhallen Atlas, MSc IUSD at the Faculty of Architecture, can be accessed vie this link: http://issuu.com/ninagribat/docs/wagenhallen-atlas/1?zoomed=&zoomPercent=& zoomX=&zoomY=&noteText=&noteX=&noteY=&viewMode=magazine

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cASE STUDIES mer street that has been closed off by residents and become a barrier; 4. Create affection for asphalt – questions the quality of the courtyard space of the local school; 5. Create a feeling of ease at this intense urban focal point – asks for reimagining a space in order to reduce conflict; 6. Create a buffer between the everyday and the monumental - asks for reimagining of a popular shortcut between the Wagenhallen and Rosenstein district at the end of the railway lines, at a Holocaust memorial; 7. Plan for chance encounters - asks for the redevelopment of a site that is used by pupils of the Rosenstein Elementry school and the students of the Steinbeis Professional school as a shortcut to enter their schools; 8. Create intimacy for residents – asks for reimagining a space that is used as a shortcut to a tram stop by many people to provide privacy to the residents; 9. Make a place for creative waiting - asks for redeveloping of the space of a bus stop that could also influence the safety of the place; 10. Create a protected, secret public space – asks to recreate the junction under the bridge which functions as the unofficial northern gateway to the Wagenhallen area.8

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participation of the residents in the preparatory process of the competition? Did they share their wishes and desires how the area could be transformed?

During the design process of the competition the participants that were mostly new to the area had to engage the local people to let them know what they wished for in every single case. Through conversations and talks with the residents the teams gathered information that would influence their design.

I will here look at one of the projects that was the result of the 72 hour work.

The project is a response to the mission statement “Create a non-judgemental courtyard.” It had to deal with the space of a former street that had been closed by residents.

Next to the site for the project the two houses were inhabited by many of the Wagenhallen residents. Because of an initiative of some of the residents the street was blocked in order to provide a safer place for children to play.

However the children prefer to play on the street next to the closed area,

The mission statements also reflected what groups of people did the issues questioned affect: whether it was school children from immigrant families, Turkish club members, churchgoers, visitors to the cemetery, parents picking up kids from the kindergarten across the street, artists working in workshops across the street, residents of a specific building and so on.

What the mission statements showed was that the life of the neighbourhood has been analyzed prior to the competition start in order to identify the issues that were central to the area and its residents. However the documentation of the event that is available focuses on the development process that took place within the 72 hours of the competition. This unfortunately leaves me wondering how the issues that were addressed in the mission statements of each team were defined. Were those issues determined through a thorough research of the neighbourhood? What was the 8 Mission Statements from 72 Hour Urban Action Photostream on Flickr: http://www. flickr.com/photos/72hua/sets/

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Image 03.

Toy Parking. TEAM Tuftler

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where their parents are and use the closed street to park their toys.

On the other hand visitors of the nearby tango club park their cars in the area in the evening which leads to some tension between the different groups using the space. More and more barriers are created by the residents of the houses however this does not stop the visitors of the club to park their cars.

The team Tüftler proposed to create an outside living room in this area.

In consultation with the residents they decided to remove the barriers and the bicycle rack and create a wooden terrace that would open up to the street but at the same time provide a safe place for children to play. The space could incorporate a variety of uses and above all it would be impossible for cars to block it.

Finally I would note that 72 Hour Urban Action deals with different levels of participation. First, the participation of all the teams that give all they can to contribute to the life of a previously unknown neighbourhood. This in itself is exemplary and could inspire others to act the same. And secondly, the participation of the residents, which maybe is not so obvious but is also important for the determining of the issues central to the neighbourhood and for finding solutions to these issues.

I would also argue here that one very important aspect of the project is its visibility. For 72 hours more than one hundred people were designing, working, building and changing the urban space. This cannot possibly be left unnoticed. The process of construction generated interest from the local people to come and ask what was going on. It showed them that their desires can be realized and that this is not so hard to accomplish.

Holding pattern, Interboro Holding pattern is a project for a temporary setting and shading designed

by Interboro Partners for the Warm-up festival at MoMA PS1.

Queens neighbourhood MoMA PS1 is located in the diverse and vibrant Queens neighbourhood of New Yourk City. Queens is the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world, representing over 100 different nations and speaking over 138 dif-

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ferent languages.9 Issues approached With their design Interboro wished to strengthen the connections between the Warm-up festival and the neighbourhood. In order to do this they went beyond the courtyard of the museum to address the different people living in Queens and ask them “Is there something you need that we could design, use during Warm-up and then donate to you?”10 Development process By interviewing different people in the area Interboro realized that many of the programmatic requirements of the festival overlaped with the needs of local community organizations. These included: shade, seating, furniture, sports facilities, etc.

Interboro went on to develop a matrix that would help them determine which of the wishes were suitable for the festival space. The matrix looked at two aspects: public interest – whether the desires of the organizations met the interest of the public of the festival; and fun.

In the end the temporary settlement for the festival was created by such elements as: • Benches that were later donated to the nearby cab company; • Ping-Pong tables held for the high school; • Volleyball net for a neighbourhood settlement house; • Tent for the local market; • Sandbox for Long Island City Kids; • Mirrors for a local ballet school; • Furniture for Ravenswood senior centre; • Landscaping net for the NYC compost projects, etc.

At the end of the festival the various items were provided to the local organizations.

9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens 10 “The urban is everywhere always”, lecture by Interboro at Harvard GSD held on 15.02.2011

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Participation methods The participation of the organizations in the design process can be seen as rather passive although their opinions and wishes in some ways determined the outcome of the design.

However in order to strengthen the connections between MoMA PS1 and Long Island City, the various organizations in the neighborhood were invited to use MoMA PS1’s courtyard for programs of their own making. This resulted in various workshops like traditional Irish music and dance workshops, bike workshops, Composting & Rain Barrel Workshops, etc.

Apart from being featured in the festival program, detailed information on all participating organizations was presented in the Holding Pattern newspaper and tags with the names of the organizations were attached to the various items stating for whom they were held for.

This created a link between the festival space and visitors and the local community organizations.

I would argue that the strength of this project lies in the information and

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knowledge it provides to both visitors of the festival about the neighbourhood and vice versa. By taking people to places that they would not go to in their city the project brought new awareness to people about the city they live in.

UrbanOut – The Basel Urban Gardening City Guide ‘UrbanOut - The Basel Urban Gardening City Guide’ is introduced “as a performance at the intersection of urban theater, video and audio walk. In an hour long interactive walk the audience is a participating observer, an actor, a gardener! In the performance the contemporary space and role perceptions and the deriving from them responsibilities are playfully deconstructed and re-negotiated. ‘UrbanOut’ addresses the question of the conditions of space shaping as well as the “localization” of events. The aim of the project is to open up the process of intermedia-based moving through the city of Basel while interacting with city residents and thus to achieve new experiences and spaces of action for all participants.”11 The walk In the case of the city walks it is harder to speak of a development process as for the walk itself is the end result of the project. As a participant of a walk one could only guess what the development process was.

As announced the city walk was a mixture of audio walk and performance.

The participants were provided with the necessary tools and instructions in order to follow the walk. It started at the just renovated Messeplatz in Basel and took the participants on a walk through the area of Kleinbasel. Mixing different stories and impressions on the city in general the audio was trying to ask the participant to look more critically on the city they live in and its capacity to be greener and closer to nature not only in terms of parks but also in terms of urban agriculture. The walk guided by a single performer led the visitors through a variety of small gardens throughout the city – on Claraplatz, at the Kazerne, the Kompost at Mattheusplatz, to the Perlengarten at the Erlenmat quartier and finally to the community space of Urban Agriculture Basel located in-between city blocks on Riehnstrasse.

Apart from introducing the participants to the various small gardens of the

Image 04.

Holding Pattern courtyard

11

Press announcement of the walk

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city, the performer was also focusing on city spaces and the various possibilities that there were to make these spaces more friendly and cozy. Such possibilities as new picnic spaces or planting fruit trees in the city were suggested. Apart from proposing various ideas to the participants the performance also asked them to be active, whether in taking flower pots with them to plant later on their way, or tools for planting and earth handling.

At the Erlenmat quarter the participants were asked to burst balloons filled with seeds and in this way to hopefully change the dull field into a colorful meadow. Finally the group was taken to the ‘headquarters’ of Urban Agriculture Basel – a piece of land that used to be a parking lot and now was turned into a community garden. There everybody could plant a herb, enjoy a cup of tea and chat with the rest of the participants.

The walk was obviously aimed at informing and attracting the participants to a new way of urban activity – urban agriculture. It offered the participants a two hour funny and entertaining stroll in the city. And although the participation within the performance itself was somehow limited and guided the importance of this work is that it asked for a more important

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form of participation – this participation when citizens alone are motivated to take part in the various activities that the city provides, to invent new activities, to take care of the city and to make the urban space more diverse and welcoming.

A performative walk I would say allows the participants to try out things within the time frame of the walk, to see if this what the artist proposes is something that they could engage with in their real life. A city walk is a test ground for unexpected actions to take place.

Streifzug in Freiburg by zURBS and Johanna Dangel Issues addressed Zurbs, a social-artistic urban lab based in Zürich, created the city walk ‘Streifzug in Freiburg’ in collaboration with Johanna Dangel. The walk focused on the question of community and its meaning in the contemporary world.

With the walk the group intended to address the questions “… if our present communities are built on social capital rather than social inclusion, replacing social responsibility with individual self-interest. The increase of gated communities where we can be protected from the “dangerous others” and be safe “among ourselves”, seems to testify for the latter. What does this tendency mean for our understanding of what a community is? In what ways may a focus on like-mindedness among members also imply a distinctiveness from and exclusion of non-members, who do not conform to the same ideals or do not have the required capital to join in?“12 Vauban neighbourhood The walk took place in the Vauban neighbourhood in Freiburg. This is a new neighbourhood of the city the construction of which began in the 1990s.

It was built as a sustainable district with a focus on ecological and healthy lifestyle.

The site used to be a military base until 1992. After the military left the vacant structures were occupied by different groups of people. A group Forum Vauban was negotiating with the city government the site to be devel-

Image 05.

Urban out - seed bombs at erlenmat, basel

12

‘Streifzug in Freiburg’ press announcement, http://www.zurbs.org/

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oped in an ecologically friendly way. Later they were delegated to develop a master plan of the area.

The neighbourhood developed in a very diverse way attracting different types of people – families with children, older people, students, for whom special dormitories were built. A wagenplatz was formed where residents were living in vehicles, vans and cars.

Alternative living projects have converted some of the old military structures into WGs where a collective form of living is celebrated. An example of such a project is S.U.S.I. – a self-governed residential initiative.13 While still approaching the starting point of the city walk I was confronted with the totally unusual atmosphere of the neighbourhood which was somehow hand-made and the contribution of its residents to the mood of the space was visible. Each and every building and even part of a building seemed to have something personal and unique. The scale of the houses as well as the courtyards that they created contributed to the cozy feeling of

13

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauban,_Freiburg

Image 06.

Streifzug in Freiburg

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the space. The courtyards provided a lot of space for children to play and the whole look of the neighbourhood suggested there were many children living there.

The Walk The walk itself started at the Alfred-Döblin-Platz – a square which is often used as a meeting place among the residents of Vauban.

The participants were introduced to the intentions of the walk and given instructions. Each participant received a leaflet where a character was presented and a map indicating two meeting times was given out. The character described was the role that the participant was supposed to play throughout the walk: in conversations with the hosts, with the rest of the group on their way to the different locations. The following characters were proposed: Der Öko-Fanatiker, Der Philosoph, Der Kasper, Mutter-Erde, Der Patriarch, Das Kind, Der Banker, Über-Mutter, Das Blumenmadchen, Die Erziehungsberechtigte, Der Teenie, Der Neo-Bohemien, Der ewige Student, Die Krankenschwester and Der Atomphysiker. For each of the characters the participants were asked to take along the walk a set of props.

Before starting the walk participants were asked to take part in a warmup exercise – the elimination game ‘zip-zap-boing’, which was a fun way to get to know the people that are also participating in the walk and to get into a playful mood.

After the warm-up the participants went in groups of four to six persons on their journey to meet the residents of the neighbourhood. They were not led by any of the creators of the walk but were left to experience the neighbourhood on their own.

The first stop of my group was the family of Kai and Anne Fischer who welcomed us warmly in their house. Kai was a handicapped and had previously lived in special housing where there was medical care. He and Anne had moved to the Vauban neighbourhood just eight months ago and were living now in one of the social housing apartments. Kai had emphasized the importance of the freedom which he felt in their new surrounding in comparison to the previous places where he had lived. Vauban was definitely a friendly place for living however the family had not yet established good connection to neighbours. This fact on the other hand had contributed to the sense of insecurity.

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By being confronted to the very personal and truthful stories of our host it was very hard to play a role and pretend to be somebody else. Therefore the stay at the family was more of an honest talk among the hosts and the guest rather than a playful dialog.

The next host that awaited our group were Ina and Tom from S.U.S.I. WG. We were invited to the common kitchen of the house where our hosts explained to us how this “alternative” lifestyle house was functioning. The building was one of the military barracks that was not demolished but adapted for residential use. The house had eight rooms, a big common kitchen and a bathroom. It was inhabited by eight adults, two kids and a dog. Over a cup of tea our hosts told us about the history of the house, how the collective life was organized, what kind of people were living in the house, what their relation to the Vauban neighbourhood was, as well as how one can become member of this residential initiative. In this case again our group was not playing the roles proposed by the walk but preferred to sustain the conversation as it was.

After the second visit the participants of the city walk were invited to join a discussion with the other groups and the organizers of the walk. People shared their experience of the walk, the different stories they have heard and how they felt about it.

In my opinion the discussion lacked the presence of the hosts themselves as their opinion would have contributed to the discussion about the sense of community in Vauban. Apart from showing to participants, the majority of whom were not residents of Vauban, the neighbourhood it could have been interesting to show to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood what a variety of people is living there and support a discussion among the residents themselves.

What was the role of the participants in this walk? To learn about the life of other probably very different people, to learn about the existence or not existence of a community in the neighbourhood? Or could maybe the walk itself contribute to the strengthening of the community of Vauban? By involving the different residents Zurbs created invisible links between the people inhabiting the neighbourhood. They all became participants of a common event and the difference of the inhabitants is that what made the walk rich and valuable to show how such different people could coexist in one place.

Participation - empowering citizens

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Participation – empowering citizens to take part in the production of urban space After I have looked at the six different case studies I would like to go back to the question how and to what extend participatory urban interventions empower citizens to take part in the production of urban space. To do so I would like to analyze the projects further by looking at the following aspects: • Design object; • Project visibility; • Role of the creative practice; • Ways of citizens’ participation; • Influence on the community.

Design object I have identified three types of design objects that can be seen in the analyzed case studies. These are: 1. the creative process itself; 2. a public facility, e.g. a park; 3. a city walk. In some cases a project has more than one design object.

The creation process has been classified as a design object as I believe that this process is in some cases as important as or even more important than the final physical object. The creation process is when people gather together to share ideas, learn and envision a new future for their cities. To find a way to bring the people together and organize an activity around which a discussion can be generated is where the creative skills of a designer are required. Without the such a creation process the final object would not be able to convey fully the desired meaning.

In the case of Park Fiction the design object on the one hand is the park - the public space that was created by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood but also and very importantly the design object I would say is the whole

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the creation process

a public facility

Park Fiction

*

*

Cantiere Barca

*

*

Holding Pattern

*

72 Hour Urban Action

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Participation - empowering citizens

city walk

Streifzug in Freiburg

*

Urban Out

*

What is the design object? process can process can be be seen by seen by citicitizens not zens involved involved

object can be seen by citizens not involved

Park Fiction

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*

Cantiere Barca

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* *

Holding Pattern 72 Hour Urban Action

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object can be seen by citizens involved

* *

Streifzug in Freiburg

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Urban Out

*

How visible is the project?

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process of the creation of this public space. The various strategies introduced by the driving actors in the project contributed for the inclusion of citizens in this process, for linking people, for creating knowledge - those are the important aspects that made the realization of the park possible. In my opinion exactly the process of creation of the park is what empowered people. This process questioned the role of the citizen in the creation of urban space and asked for the re-thinking of this role.

I would also like to add here that very characteristic for the Park Fiction project is the common cause to reclaim a huge city site for the needs of the inhabitants which did not coincide with the profit-driven needs of the city authorities. To succeed in such a cause a very thought-through development process is needed.

The case of Cantiere Barca also is an example when the design object is represented by the creation process and the final physical object. Similarly to the Park Fiction project the design process for me is the crucial object without which the project would not have its strength. Although Cantiere Barca approached more a social rather than a political issue the creation process was aimed again at creation a space for communication and debate for the young people from Barca. The physical objects that have been created as a result I see to have a secondary importance. The belief that making changes in the living environment that was experienced by the inhabitants is what matters the most.

For Interboro’s project Holding Patter I would suggest that the design object can be seen as the final physical object i.e. the courtyard design for the festival event. In this case the development process that citizens took part in, I would say, did not have the aim to empower citizens, but was rather a source of inspiration for the designers themselves in their wish to create an inclusive work by supporting the connection between the citizens and the festival.

72 Hour Urban Action I see again as a project where the design object is the public facility that was created or in this case the ten public facilities.

The development process was different in the case of every team however citizens when asked to participate were mainly asked to provide information and discuss ideas and possibilities. Citizens, as I see it, were not invited to take in-depth part in the creation process. The project was rather aimed at impressing the local inhabitants of the neighbourhood, to show them what is possible to be done in 72 hours and that this is not so hard to

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teaching

Participation - empowering citizens information mediator begathering from inspiration tween citizens citizens of citizens & institutions

decision making

information, knowledge

Park Fiction

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Cantiere Barca

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Holding Pattern

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72 Hour Urban Action

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*

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Streifzug in Freiburg

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Urban Out

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

* *

*

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achieve. The proof is the ten interventions that were created.

The last two case studies Streifzug in Freiburg and Urban Out fall into another category, where the design object is the city walk. It could be said that a participatory city walk consists of a real-time development process, which is dependent on the participation of the audience and thus the result cannot be predicted precisely. This is very well visible in the Streifzug in Freiburg walk where the experience of each group of participants depended on the behaviour and actions of this group. Therefore the outcome was also different in each case.

The Urban Out walk required less participation from the audience and thus the outcome was more controlled and predictable.

I would also like to note about the city walks that they are intended at the participants as the audience and the participants as the citizens. Therefore the effect city walks have on citizens and audience is not always the same. The design object as a city walk may not always inspire or empower citizens.

Project visibility

What is the Role of the creative practice?

decision making

co-create, provide build an object organize, or a space manage events information

Park Fiction

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*

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Cantiere Barca

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*

*

Holding Pattern

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72 Hour Urban Action

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Streifzug in Freiburg

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Urban Out

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What are the ways of citizens’ participation?

*

I would say another important aspect for understanding the results of the projects is their visibility. The visibility of the project can be looked at in terms of the visibility of the process and the visibility of the final physical object; whether the project was visible only to participants involved or also to citizens not involved in the project.

In my opinion the visibility of the process of creation is crucial for the impact of the project on the neighbourhood. It awakens curiosity among citizens to come and look and ask what is going on and maybe later ask if their own wishes can be realized.

The visibility or in other words the publicity of the project determines its political strength. It acts in the public sphere and asks how it can be reimagined.

Again if I look at the different projects analyzed Park Fiction and Cantiere Barca are very similar in this aspect. In both cases the creation process or at least parts of it were visible to people who were not involved in this process. In the case of Park Fiction it was the public events that took place on the site and in the case of Cantire Barca this was the collective construction that was taking place in the open space of the neighbourhood.

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Participation - empowering citizens

But also in both examples the final physical object was visible to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood or even the city.

The Park Fiction park I would say marks the success of the project and remains as a reminder for the inhabitants that their visions for the city can also be respected and realized.

Similarly I think the objects created during Cantiere Barca’s workshop serve as reminders for the people from the neighbourhood about the established communication space and that it is now in their hands to keep this communication space alive.

Likewise is the situation with the 72 Hour Urban Action project, which was also visible to citizens not involved in the project with its development process and the final physical objects.

Holding Pattern is an example of another type of visibility. In this case the development process was visible only to the people who were involved in it, meaning only to those whom the designers approached directly. However the final design of the festival courtyard is what reflected the development process and made it publicly available.

strengthening connecting bonds between empowering citizens & local citizens & the organisations citizens city

Park Fiction

Cantiere Barca

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*

*

connecting citizens

creating new public facilities

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*

Holding Pattern

* *

*

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72 Hour Urban Action

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Streifzug in Freiburg Urban Out

What is the influence on community?

*

*

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The two city walks I would suggest are completely different in terms of their visibility, as for they were visible only to the people involved. This is also as a result of the fact that the activity of walking in the city even in a group, with headphones or with weird props in your hands does not attract so much attention from passers-by but rather leaves the walk to the participant’s personal experience, his personal experience of the surrounding city-space. The city walks examined do not tent to attract public attention or spread their influence on people not involved.

Role of the creative practice As already mentioned previously in the text I see the most important task of the designer in being a mediator between the real and imaginary, to inspire citizens to take part in the life of their cities. However I think this task is not so easily accomplished and requires effort and time. Therefore we could speak of the designer as a mediator in the long-term projects reviewed. I guess that time had allowed the connection between the designer and the citizens to become stronger as well as people to be given faith that they can influence their living environment and have their responsibility reawakened.

The designer as a mediator I see in the Park Fiction and Cantiere Barca projects. By inspiring citizens the designer provoked action and empowered citizens to take more active part in the life of their cities.

I prior step to empowerment I would argue is the creation of knowledge.

Through the creation of knowledge citizens become more aware of the other people around them and the city in general.

Knowledge or teaching is visible for me in almost all projects analyzed apart form 72 Hour Urban Action. As in the case of Park Fiction project making each other cleverer and more informed was an important aspect in the development process and I would say the first step towards the activation of the citizens.

In Cantiere Barca teaching was introduced. By teaching the participants practical skills, the young people learned something new that could help them reimagine their environment. But also through the process of collective construction togetherness was achieved.

The knowledge that was generated during the Holding Pattern project was an exchange-knowledge when citizens who contributed their ideas for the

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event learned more about the institution organizing this event and the visitors of the festival learned about the various inhabitants of the neighbourhood. In this case the production of knowledge contributed to the linking of different people and the creation of awareness.

In the case of the city walks knowledge was again crucial part of the works.

In Streifzug in Freiburg knowledge was generated through conversations between inhabitants of the neighbourhood and participants of the walk. In informal discussions people shared their thoughts on the neighbourhood and the community. These discussions helped to exchange very personal thoughts on the subject and create a unique type of knowledge.

In the Urban Out walk on the contrary the information provided was more formal as it was predefined in advance and was not dependent on the participants.

Another important role of the creative practice I would argue is to act as a mediator between citizens and institutions. This can be seen in the Park Fiction project where the artists went through a negotiation process with the city authorities in order to convey the collective ideas of the citizens.

Holding Pattern and Urban Out also linked citizens to local organizations but rather with the aim to make both sides more aware of each other.

Ways of citizens’ participation Maybe the most common way of citizens’ participation in the development process of the work is by providing information on the specific topic of the work. This can be seen in all of the analyzed projects. It is the sharing of desires and wishes in Park Fiction, Cantiere Barca and Holding Pattern, or the input regarding issues concerning the neighbourhood and the life of its inhabitants in 72 Hour Urban Action, or the personal stories told in Streifzug in Freiburg and at last the information that the urban agriculture group shared with participants in the Basel walk.

The level of engagement of citizens grows once they are asked to cocreate an object, a space as for example in Cantiere Barca or Park Fiction.

Weather taking part in the physical construction of the project or in the continuous negotiations about its realization participants could develop a strong relation to the project. This is then taken one step further when in addition to co-creating the object participants are engaged in managing

Participation - empowering citizens

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activities related to this object. Such is the case with Park Fiction and the various activities that were organized on the actual site. Also Cantiere Barca asked participants to manage events like games and discussion, etc. This is also a motivation for participants to continue using the new space beyond the time-frame of the project.

Holding Pattern project proposed to participants to organize events like for example workshops – this I see as a form of knowledge exchange between the local institutions and the visitors of the festival. In this case the events were strictly linked to the schedule and timeframe of the festival.

I would also add here that by taking part in the actual creation process and the events around it participants gain the responsibility to make decisions. In some cases, like for example in Park Fiction, after a certain period of time citizens are those to take the lead which has been handed over to them by the designers. This can be seen as the biggest accomplishment of true participatory projects – citizens become the driving force behind the idea of remaking the urban space they inhabit.

Influence on community Although the influence on the community a project has is highly determined by the ways of participation that are proposed in the process, the influence can also be achieved by the creation of knowledge. It would be fair to say that the influence can simply be different. In the first case citizens are becoming more actively involved in the life of their city, they are empowered through the project. In the second case they are becoming more aware about a certain aspect of the life of their city. The latter can be seen as the first step for achieving the former.

Empowerment of citizens I would argue is characteristic of the Park Fiction project where the sum of processes such as strengthening the bonds between the citizens and the city, between citizens and local institutions or only between citizens has contributed for this empowerment.

The other projects analyzed I would say create awareness and knowledge.

In Cantiere Barca this is done through strengthening the bonds between citizens and the urban space, by linking citizens. Holding Pattern also connects citizens as well as citizens and local institutions.

72 Hour Urban Action and Streifzug in Freiburg link citizens and thus make them more informed about the differences that exist. And finally Ur-

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ban Out connects the participants to a local green organization to inspire them to see new possibilities for nature in the city.

As seen the influence on community can vary widely and this is due to the fact that local needs and issues are always different and thus have a different influence on the designer, his approach and the impact he is willing to achieve.

In other words the influence of the project on the community is determined by the needs of the community, the way the project responds to these needs and how far the designer is willing to go in the solving of social issues.

Now that I have looked at the different aspects that characterize the case studies I would like to look again at the question that was posed at the beginning of this chapter, i.e. how can participatory urban interventions contribute to the empowerment of citizens to take part in the production of urban space?

I would say that that empowerment is happening in the cases when the project actively involves the citizens in its development process by asking them to co-create an object or take care of events. Thus a space of communication and debate is created where the production of knowledge and awareness are of crucial importance. Through this process things which are obscured are being made visible.

CONCLUSIONS

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Conclusions The current transformation process of society provides opportunities for imagining and testing what the future form of living in cities could be.

As the surveyed projects show creative practices are finding new ways to engage with the urban space and the people who inhabit it which is done with the means of urban interventions. These interventions can be seen as attempts to humanize cities and test how people can live together within the conflicting difference that exists.

Having analyzed the six participatory urban interventions in terms of the effect they have on the community and the people I would like to open up the discussion and question how such works can contribute for the development of our cities and the society in general.

How can participatory urban interventions contribute for the living together in cities; for creating spaces of difference and togetherness?

To answer these questions I would like to refer to an article by Oliver Marchart “Art, Space and the Public Sphere(s). Some basic observations on the difficult relation of public art, urbanism and political theory.” As suggested

by Marchart the general artistic enthusiasm for social issues (which in the framework of this work I see to be characteristic of participatory urban interventions) tends to outshine politics. “What artistic social work replaces is political work. And what social interventionist art practices have completely superseded, it would seem, are political interventionist art practices.”1 To see how urban interventions are related to the political I suggest following Marchant. Marchant proposes the term spatialization as the process of continuous construction of spaces. This construction process he sees as the actual process of politics – a process which creates space for debate.

This process should take place in the public sphere. However “The public sphere is not so much a pre-existent space in which this debate occurs or 1 Oliver Marchart, “Art, Space and the Public Sphere(s).Some basic observations on the difficult relation of public art, urbanism and political theory”, http://eipcp.net/ transversal/0102/marchart/en

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to which it is assigned. On the contrary, the public sphere must be created again and again precisely by means of conflictual debate about the foundations of society and the scope of rights (…), and the extension of rights to new groups of the population.”2 I would argue that urban interventions as some of the analyzed case studies have shown can contribute for the continuous re-making of the public sphere. These interventions produce conflictual debate by addressing various social issues that are being rooted in the particular context of every intervention.

Whether addressing the inappropriate use of the urban space, the lack of knowledge about the surrounding environment, the lack of responsibility and so on, these interventions oppose themselves to the dominant consensus, and “make visible what the dominant consensus tends to obscure.”3 Or in other words, they reveal issues that have been hidden from the public.

The continuous questioning of the urban space we live in is the process that produces this space and redefines it again and again. Participatory urban interventions inspire citizens to take part in this process and thus I would say contribute to keeping this process diverse and alive.

They show that cities are sites where difference, disagreement and conflict exist, which should however be preserved in order to keep the debate going.

2 Marchart, op.cit.

3 Chantal Mouffe “Artistic Activism and Agonistic Spaces”, Art & Research (Journal of Ideas, Contexts and Methods), Vol.1, No.2, 2007

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Illustration credits

Web-sites: www.72hoururbanaction.com www.interboropartners.net www.parkfiction.org www.raumlabor.net www.rearttheurban.org www.spatialagency.net www.spontaneousinterventions.org www.zurbs.org

Illustration Credits Image 01 - Karin Rose, https://picasaweb.google. com/103935043850347963002/HafenElbe #5549113072951188690 Image 02 - Raumlabor Berlin Image 03 - 72 Hour Urban Action, http://www.flickr.com/ photos/72hua/7765440204/in/set-72157631031113532 Image 04 - Howard Heyman, http://www.morfae.com/1036-moma/ Image 05 - author Image 06 - author

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