On Tuesday, 29 October at 8 p.m. Klaus Overmeyer will give a lecture on 'Urban Catalyst', a study of temporary use as a catalyst for urban development.
In many cities wastelands and vacant buildings are transformed into lively and bustling places, faster than urban planners could have predicted and after the real estate market failed in its initial attempt to develop them. Informal uses develop here, such as clubs, bars, start-ups or markets. These then become laboratories for new uses of the city, for social relations, for urban economies and for cultural innovation. As a result these temporarily used spaces become a valuable source for developing a lively city as well as the source of central impulses for new urban developments.
For quite some time these unplanned, and consequently also uncontrollable developments were eyed with suspicion by investors, the real estate market and the authorities. “Urban Catalyst” by Philipp Oswalt, Klaus Overmeyer and Philipp Misselwitz shows that these phenomena can also be used in a smart way.
This publication is the outcome of the research of the eponymous platform, which contributed to several projects and has instigated a lively debate. The presentation introduces the strategic planning tools and action models, with several practical examples from metropolises such as London as well as from declining cities in the former East Germany. Finally Urban Catalyst describes potential ways in which urban planning can incorporate these informal uses and what urban planners can learn from these temporary users: action models for open source, user-based urban planning. That is why Urban Catalyst essentially is an argument in favour of making the use of the city a central premise for urban development.
