WORKSHOP

1-3March2017,MuseumBuilding,TrinityCollegeDublin

TheNewUrbanRuins:VacancyandthePost-CrisisCity

DistinguishedInternationalLecturersinGeography

DepartmentofGeography

SchoolofNaturalSciences

DetailsofGeographyeventsarealsoavailableat:http://www.tcd.ie/Geography/FollowusonTwitter: https://twitter.com/Planetgeogblog

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Keynotespeakers:Dr.ChristinaLee(CurtinUniversity,PerthAustralia),Prof. KarenTill(Maynooth University,

Ireland),Dr.AlexanderVasudevan (Oxford,UK)FilmScreening:

“APlaceWhereGhostsDwell”(Dir.Dr. PatrickBaxter)

Funded by the IRC, this workshop proposes will explore how contestationsover the reuse of vacant spaces can be used to think about cities andurbanisation in new ways. Topics covered include the central role thatvacancy played in recent property crashes, debates about urban shrinkage,the popularity of new approaches to temporary urbanism, and criticaldiscussions of ruins. The central hypothesis is the vacant space will play a keyrole in determining how cities of the future respond to the both urbanproblems and wider global challenges.

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“TheNewUrbanRuins:VacancyandthePost-crisisCity”

(Dublin,1-3March2017)

FinalProgramme

All the sessionswill be held at Trinity College Dublin,Museum Building (for amap of thecollege,seehttps://www.tcd.ie/Maps/map.php?b=54&i=b60)

DAY1(March1st)Location:HaughtonLectureTheatre

h14C.O’Callaghan-Welcome&introductiontotheworkshoph14.15-15.55Session1-Thepoliticaleconomyofabandonmentbetweenopportunity

andobsolescenceChair:SinéadKelly(NationalUniversityofIrelandMaynooth)PresentersN.Gray -Devaluationandrevaluationofvacantandderelict spaces inGlasgowEast:UrbanruinsasanarenaofcrisisresolutionanddefermentL. S. Bródy & A. Coppola - Diversifying property through vacancy? A comparison betweenClevelandandBarcelonaS.Bissen,M.Casagrande&S.Serafini-Ultraruins:Newark,Artena,TreasureHillB. Tanulku - Different Types of Urban Emptiness and Their Values: Cases of Physical andSymbolicUrbanEmptinessfromIstanbulh15.55-16.15Coffeebreakh16.15-17.30Session2-Bottom-upresponsestoabandonment

Chair:GerryKearns(NationalUniversityofIrelandMaynooth)PresentersL.Wagner - Present absence: Conceptualizingmigrant-owned homes and the economics ofcareinurbanvacancyV. Habermehl - Resisting organised abandonment, everyday socio-spatial practices inMercadoBonpland,BuenosAiresP.Cardullo&R.Kitchin-Propertyvacancy,livinglabsandgentrification17.45-19.15Screening+presentationbyPatrickBaxter“APlaceWhereGhostsDwell”

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DAY2(March2nd)Location:RoomA

h9.15-10.30Session3-Regeneration

Chair:SusanMurphy(TrinityCollegeDublin)PresentersN.Gribat-ConflictingrationalitiesandmessyactualitiesofabandonmentinHalle/Saale,EastGermanyJ.Ahern-UrbanVacancyandtheplanningsysteminIrelandE. Fraser - Reimagining Detroit: From ruin to regeneration, or, the multiple challenges ofobsoletearchitecturesh10.30-10.45Coffeebreakh.10.45-12Session4-Re-appropriatingvacancyChair:PatrickBresnihan(TrinityCollegeDublin)PresentersC.O’Callaghan&C.DiFeliciantonio -Alternativeprojectsovervacantspaces in thecitiesofcrisis.Whatmakespossibletheirendurance?M. Ferreri - Learning from temporary use: translation, value claims and on-demandcommunitiesinthe‘fringes’oftheQueenElizabethOlympicParkM.Caulkins-Spatio-legalimaginariesinconflict:autonomy,engagement,andhousingpolitics.ThecaseofSaoPaulo’ssquattingmovementsh 12- 13 Key-note by Christina Lee (Curtin University) “Building the Modern Ruin:

GhostCitiesofChina”

h13-14lunchh14-15.15Session5-ThepoliticsofruinsChair:FedericoCugurullo(TrinityCollegeDublin)PresentersJ. Sarmento, E. Brito-Henriques & P. Morgado - Urban ruination: suspended projects inGuimarães,PortugalP.Arboleda-GRANDTOUR:TheGreatBeautyofIncompiutoSicilianoD.Keech&O.Jones-Narrativeswithinurbanruins:WorldHeritage,WorldWar,ColdWarh.15.15-15.30Coffeebreakh15.30- 16.30Key-notebyAlexanderVasudevan (University ofOxford)-The Fragile

City:TowardsaGenealogyofUrbanPrecarity

Chair:CesareDiFeliciantonio(TrinityCollegeDublin)

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h16.45-18Session6-ArchitectureChair:PadraigCarmody(TrinityCollegeDublin)PresentersP. Jones-ArchitectureasSpatio-TemporalFix(Or:Today'sUrbanCapitalistDevelopment isTomorrow'sRuin)D.Martin-Arresteddevelopmentsandhopefulaudacities:ontheroleofarchitectureintheassemblingofnewurbanformsL.Pohl-AnomaliesoftheVerticalCity:Ghostscrapersandthedeathdriveofarchitecture

h 19.30 Conference dinner at Yamamori Noodles (address: 71-72 South Great George’sStreetDublin2.Formoreinfo,visithttp://yamamori.ie/yamamori-noodles/)

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DAY3(March3rd)Location:RoomA

h9.10-10Session7-Thelivedcharacterofvacancy

Chair:EoinO’Mahony(TrinityCollegeDublin&UniversityCollegeDublin)PresentersS.F.Trigo-Urbanvacantland:aproductionprocessintheLondoncontextJ. Hudson - Using derelict space: The spatio-temporal qualities of urban vacancy and theproductionoftheinformalcityh 10- 11 Key-note by K. Till (National University of Ireland Maynooth)- Urban

Remnants,RuinsandRevenants:Movingbetweenpastsandfuturesthroughmemory-

workandplace-basedengagementsChair:CianO’Callaghan(TrinityCollegeDublin)h11-11.15Coffeebreak

h11.15-12.40Session8-Dublin

Chair:PhilipLawton(NationalUniversityofIrelandMaynooth)PresentersK. Guinan - ‘Creative’ government approaches to urban vacancy in Dublin: patronage orinstrumentalisation?P.Crowe,K.Foley&A.Corcoran-TheReusingDublinExperiment:ExploringGeddesianideasthroughinteractivemappingR. McArdle - ‘Squat City’: Squatting as an explicitly political temporary use in post-crisisDublinh12.40-13FinalremarksbyC.O’CallaghanandC.DiFeliciantonio

h13Lunch

h14MeetingwithIrishHousingNetwork+touroftheDocklandsarea

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Listofabstracts

DAY1(March1st)

Session1:Thepoliticaleconomyofabandonmentbetweenopportunityandobsolescence

N. Gray “Devaluation and revaluation of vacant and derelict spaces in Glasgow East: Urban

ruinsasanarenaofcrisisresolutionanddeferment”

Urbanruinsaretypically theresultofsustaineddevaluationovermanyyears.ThroughtheprismofMarxian crisis theory, this paper examines policy-led approaches to long-term vacant and derelictspaces related to the Commonwealth Games 2014 and Clyde Gateway regeneration projects inGlasgow East. The 2014 Games, like the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and the 2012London Olympics, were situated in old industrial areas long subject to structural devaluation. InMarxian theory, such socially catastrophic devaluation, or creative destruction’, is seen – just likerecurrent crisis – as necessarily immanent to the perpetuation of capitalist relations (Marx, 1857;Luxemburg, 1913; Harvey, 1982; Holgerson, 2015). Through a study of two sites within the ClydeGateway regeneration scheme, including the 2014 Games Village, this paper examines the socialeffectsoflong-termdevaluationasabrutallylogicalandrationalcomponentofurbanredevelopment(Smith,1996;Weber,2002),andthelocalstate’sroleinremediatingandcommodifyingitsownlandvia public subsidy in the service of private development (cf. Christophers, 2016). The papercontributestovacantspacesliteraturebymeansofathoroughcritiqueof large-scalestate-ledurbanrevalorisation processes. It considers vacant space regeneration strategies in Glasgow East as atemporary property-led ‘spatial fix’ for urban crisis that cannot ultimately defer a longer termunderlying crisis of productivity. Indoing so, it questions thebroaderpolitical utility of ‘temporaryuses’ofvacantspaceswhenconsideredasdiscrete,self-sufficiententities,proposing insteadamoresystematic,immanentdialecticalapproachtothepoliticsofurbanspace.

L. S. Bródy & A. Coppola “Diversifying property through vacancy? A comparison between

ClevelandandBarcelona”

Urban revitalization through the mobilization and inclusion of temporary uses of vacant spaces isattractingworldwide attention of scholars, policymakers andurbanprofessionals. In theEuropeancontext,temporaryusesaremainlyinterpretedaslow-costrevitalizationsolutionsenactedbyformalorganizations and/or more informal groups that are temporarily handed vacant publicly ownedspaces often free of charge for the performance of some specific activities. Meanwhile, in the UScontext,–wherespreadingvacancywasdeterminedbylargerstructuralprocessesofurbanshrinkageanddemographic loss– temporaryuseshavebeenmobilizedacrossawidervarietyofsituations, inconnectionwithlocalgreeningandfoodstrategies.OnthebasisoftwocasestudiesinClevelandandBarcelona,thepaperaimstounfoldthepotentialoftemporaryusesofvacantspaceindepartingfromentrenched neoliberal understanding of urban property advancing a wider and more pluralisticunderstandingoflegalformsoftenureandtodiscussthechallengesandlimitationsofthispotential.In both cities, new neighbourhood strategies have been implemented to transform and repurposevacantlandbytheinclusionofgrassrootscommunityorganisationsinlocalgovernancesystems.Forabetter understanding of these potential and challenges, the paper will analyse three aspects oftemporary uses: (1) the actual forms of activation of vacant spaces’ reuse through regulations,subsidization and funding (2) the innovative collaborations through the involvement of newstakeholders in temporary uses and (3) the diverse forms of legal tenure that are advanced asoutcomesoftheselargerprocesses.

S.Bissen,M.Casagrande&S.Serafini“Ultraruins:Newark,Artena,TreasureHill”

Ourworkdealswithphysical urban ruins anddispossession as a possible transition space towardsbiourbanism, analyzing three case studies: Newark, NJ (USA), Artena (Rome, Italy), and Treasure

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Island(Taipei,Taiwan).Ourhypothesis is thatdespite theculturaldifferencesof these threeplaces,they share the same exit pattern from capitalistic urbanism, and that this depends upon a basicanthropologicalreactiontoaworld-spreadprocess.Sincethere-occurrenceofcapitalflightin2008,Newark,located20minutesbytrainfromdowntownManhattan,beganshowingrelevantelementsofaruralsocietyinthecracksofafailedcapitalisticcycle,especiallyaffectingreal-estatevalue.Similarly,Artena,35kmsouthofItaly’scapital,suffersaneconomicdeclinethatbecomesstrikinglyevidentinitshistoricalcenter,anancienthilltownwherecarshavenoaccess.TreasureHill,anillegalsettlementonthe Xindian River shows the antagonistic role with the government against the spontaneous andnature-linked economy of its inhabitants. Those spaces bring a real and non-representationalconditionwhereruralformsofsocialconnectionshappeninparallelwithanaturaldeconstructionofbuilding,zoning,andurbandesign,usuallyseenas“decay.”WereconsidersuchadecayasaparadigmforengenderingtheThirdGenerationCity,wherearuralsocietyentersandtransversesthecapitalisticlogic of the industrial and post-industrial city. Nature, abandonment, void, stagnation of formaleconomy,andsquattingaretheconditionsthatallowtwoprocesses:1)Disinterestanddistancingofcapital;2)Emergenceofapeasant-likeinformalsocietyandeconomy.B. Tanulku “Different Types of Urban Emptiness and Their Values: Cases of Physical and

SymbolicUrbanEmptinessfromIstanbul”

Urban emptiness has been subject of debates as a result of the last economic crisis which led toforeclosures,declineandabandonmentincities.Inthiscontext,urbanemptinessisanalysedthroughafunctionalistapproachandregardedasnegativeaspectsofcitieswhichshouldbeavoidedandfixed.Instead, this paper regards urban emptiness as parts of urban space and life,which emerge as theresult of different factors. For this purpose, the paper looks at three case studies in Istanbul, thelargest cityofTurkey:historic ghostlyhomes, vacantbuildings squatted forvariouspurposesandaculturalcentreonceusedformusicandartsperformances.Thepaperusesthedatacollectedfromsitevisits and semi-structured in-depth interviewswith residents, activists and local administrators. Bydoing this, the paper argues that there are two forms of emptiness: physical and symbolic. While“physical emptiness” refers to spaces which are physically empty, “symbolic emptiness” refers tospaces regarded as empty as a result of their cultural and symbolic meaning. The paper alsodemonstrates that the economic and symbolic values of urban emptiness affects its overallmarketvalueaswellasbywhom,forhowlongandhowitisused.

Session2:Bottom-upresponsestoabandonment

L.Wagner“Presentabsence:Conceptualizingmigrant-ownedhomesandtheeconomicsofcare

inurbanvacancyinMorocco”

This chapterexplores theeconomicsof care forhousingwhosevacancy ispurposeful andcyclical–namely, second homes. While since the early 2000’s Moroccan authorities have offered severalversions of incentive programs for ordinary citizens to purchase single family apartments, initialfieldwork around Tangier indicates that many of these sub-developer units have been bought assecondresidences,vacationproperties,orspeculativeinvestments.Despitethepoliticalintentionforthesecomplexestobecomeinhabited,cared-for,slum-reliefhousing,asubstantialportionareownedbutonlyperiodicallyoccupied.Theabsentownersmaybelocalresidents,Moroccanslivingelsewherein Morocco or Moroccans living diasporically, each facing different challenges in securing andmaintainingtheirinvestment.Meanwhile,thefamilieswhoboughtthesehomesasprimaryresidencesfindthemselvesinneighborhoodsthatarefinancially‘full’yetsubjecttoperiodicandcyclicalpresenceand absence of owners. The proliferation of housing complexes built as communities but sold asinvestments brings into relief the value of dwelling and care as tangibly economic.With a complexhistoryofpropertyregulationandastrategicgeopoliticalandtouristicposition,Tangierprovidesbothauniqueandarchetypicalcaseforthinkingabouthowpropertyownersfromelsewheremanagethecare for their property, and by extension contribute to the life of the city and neighborhood – or,conversely,howtheneighborhoodadjustswhenthatcareisabsent.

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V.Habermehl“Resistingorganisedabandonment,everydaysocio-spatialpracticesinMercado

Bonpland,BuenosAires”

Theurban context of organized abandonment (Harvey, 1989)demonstrates thepower of capital toreorder space, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations (Gilmore, 2008). Organizedabandonmentthereforeoperatesasanattackonthesocialandspatialcapacitytoorganizeeverydaylife for ordinary citizens. This paper explores a strategic intervention to social and spatialabandonmentinBuenosAiresthrougheverydaypracticesdevelopedinanoccupiedtraditionalretailmarket.Afteryearsoforganizing,MercadoBonplandwasreclaimedbyPalermoViejoneighborhoodassemblyasamarketspacetosellproductsfromnetworksofself-managedcooperatives.Thesepre-existing, cooperative networks in Bonpland and across the country created the conditions for theneighborhood assembly’s reclamation of themarket as an act of resistance, following themultiple,political,socialandeconomiccrisesof2001andneoliberalpoliciesprecedingthem.Iexplorehowthemarketoperatesfromwithina“grayspace”betweenlegallysanctionedandoccupiedspace(Yiftachel,2009).Iarguethatanexaminationofthechallengesofresistingsocio-spatialabandonmentfrom“grayspace”illuminatesthepotentialsforalternativelyorganizingeverydaylife.

P.Cardullo&R.Kitchin“Propertyvacancy,livinglabsandgentrification”

Thispaperevaluatessmartcityinitiativesinthecontextofre-usingvacantproperty.Inparticular,wefocusonlivinglabs(LL),civichacking(CH),andontech-sector-ledurbanregenerationprojects,andtheirpotentialrolesinfosteringcreativeeconomyfuelledgentrification.LLutiliseLo-Fitechnologiestofosterlocaldigitalinnovationandsupportcommunity-focusedcivichacking,runningvariouskindsofworkshops and engagingwith local citizens to co-create digital interventions andApps aimed at‘solving’ local issues.Tech-ledregenerationcan involve large-scaleredevelopmentofareas intonewdigitaleconomyhubsandoften includeLLandCH initiativesaimedat localcommunities,aswellasstart-upincubatorsandacceleratorspacesaimedatsupportingnew,indigenouscompanies.LLandCHaim to mitigate local digital divides and increase citizens’ participation in the smart city. FiveapproachestoLLandcivichackingarediscussedwithrespecttovacancyandgentrification:pop-upevents, community organised venues/activities, university-led activities, citizen sensing andcrowdsourcing, and tech-led regeneration initiatives. Notwithstanding the potential for generatingtemporaryandindependentspacesfortransferringandfosteringdigitalcompetencesandincreasingcitizens’participationintheSC,wearguethatLLandCHlargelyfosteramodelofparticipationframedwithin a model of civic stewardship for ‘smart citizens’. While presented as horizontal, open, andparticipative, LL and CH are often rooted in pragmatic and paternalistic discourses and practicesrelatedtotheproductionofacreativeeconomyandsmartcity.Assuch,byencouragingaparticularkind of re-use of vacant space, LL and CHpotentially contributes to gentrification pressureswithinlocalesbyattractingthecreativeclassesandnewinvestment.WediscusstheseapproachesandissuesgenerallyandwithrespecttoDublin.

Screening+presentationbyPatrickBaxter“APlaceWhereGhostsDwell”

How can film and social research be used to artistically interrogate the relationship between amarginalizedplaceand itsvacantspace?Thispaper investigatesaspectsofpost-CelticTiger Irelandproperty vacancy through both an essay-film and ethnographic research carried out in a provincialtown in2015. In thewakeof theGlobalFinancialCrisisand Ireland’sdramaticpropertycollapse in2008,myhometownandcountyLongfordwasoneof theplacesthatsuffereddisproportionallyasasiteofwhatbecamepopularlyknownasghostestates-unfinishedhousingestates.However,discoursearoundthevacanthouseoftenobscuredwhatthehighlevelsofvacantcommercialpropertycouldtellusaboutuneveneconomicdevelopmentduringtheCelticTigeryearsanditseffectsonmarginalisedplaceslikeLongford.Therefore,Ihaveexpandedonthepopularterm‘ghostestate’toarriveat‘ghostdevelopments’ as a new conceptualization within ruin studies. This paper proposes the idea thatthroughghostdevelopmentswecanbegintothinkofthecategoriesofurban/rural/suburbannotonlyasspatialdelineationsbutalsoassetsofsocialpracticesthatarenegotiateddifferentlydependingonsocialsettingorlocation.MyethnographicresearchfocusesonhowvarioussocialactorsinLongford

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utiliseghostdevelopmentsinwaysthatareoftenatoddswiththenormativesocialaestheticsof‘rural’Ireland,whilemyfilmAPlaceWhereGhostsDwellemploysthefilm-essayistmodetoaccountforthecomplexchangingsocialdynamicsofplaceinpost-CelticTigerIreland.

DAY2(March2nd)

Session3:Regeneration

N.Gribat “Conflicting rationalitiesandmessyactualitiesof abandonment inHalle/Saale, East

Germany”

Between1990and2010 thecityofHalle/Saalehasunderwentaperiodofurbandecline.Similar tootherEastGermancities, ithas losta largeshareof jobsandpopulationafterGermanreunification.This paper examines how different rationalities and practices of governing vacant housing haveformedinthecontextofintersectinglocal,regionalandnationalpoliciesandprojectsinHalle/Saale.Focusingontwodistricts,onecentrallylocatedwithmainlyearly20thcenturybuildingsandtheotherone peripherally located with pre-fabricated and standardized GDR housing, this paper drawsattentiontotheconflictingrationalitiesandmessyactualitiesofabandoningcertaintypesofhousingwhile reclaiming and promoting others. Different constructions of vacancy are explored in depth:whilevacancyismobilizedasanopportunityforcreativere-useandinvestmentinthecentraldistrict,itisseenasasignforalackofdemandandexcessintheperipheraldistrict.Inthecentraldistrictmostfunding from policy programs is used for upgrading old and mostly privately owned buildings inadditiontoprovidingsomeincentivesfortemporaryuse.Intheperipherallylocateddistrictfundingismainlyusedforthedemolitionofexcesshousing,mostofwhichispublicallyowned.Eventhoughtheexistenceof a large shareofpublicly andmunicipallyowned rent-controlledhousinghas cushionedprocessesofsocialsegregation,thesocialgeographyofHalle/Saaleischangingasaresultofthemessyactualitiesofabandonment-mainlyalonglinesofincome,ageandethnicity.

J.Ahern“UrbanVacancyandtheplanningsysteminIreland”

Planningreceivedconsiderablecriticismfor itsrole incontributingtothedevastationcausedbythefinancial andproperty crisis experiencedby theRepublic of Ireland.UnfinishedEstates, termed theNewRuinsof Irelandby(Kitchen,O'Callaghan,&Gleeson,2014),were,andinmanyareasremain,avisible scar and reminder of this period of construction. Less visible in this picture are thosepropertiesfinishedinadvanceofthecrashbutwhichremainedvacant,beggingthequestionastowhywere the rising levels of Vacant Property not a key concern during the property boom. Vacantpropertyisoftenseenasablightupontheurbanfabric;itcanrepresentawasteofresources,asignofthe inefficient functioning of the property market and the beginning of a process of dereliction(Bowman&Pagano,2004;PlanningResearch,1995).However,acertainlevelofVacancyisessentialfortheoperationofthepropertymarketoftenreferredtoasthe‘naturalvacancyrate'oraspartofthe"vacancychain".ItisclearthatVacantPropertyisamultifacetedissue.ThereforeafullunderstandingofboththelevelandthelocationofVacantPropertyinanareacanbeausefulindicationofboththehealthofthemarket,andindicatefutureneedsconcerningplanningforanareaintheshortandlongterm(Burkholder,2012;Nadalin&Igliori,2016;Németh&Langhorst,2014).ThischapterexaminestheinteractionofvacancyandthePlanningsystemsincetheActof1963thatledtothismixofVacantProperty and new urban ruins in the Republic of Ireland (Barry, 2000; MacLaran & Kelly, 2014;O'Leary, 2014; Scott, 2006). Based on this analysis it then argues that public policy should have astronger strategy both to monitor and to address vacant property in the realm of planning, andthroughinternationalexamplesevaluatessomeoptionswhatcouldbeadoptedbytheIrishPlanningSystem.

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E.Fraser“ModernRuins:Fromrubbletoregeneration,or,themultiplechallengesofobsolete

architectures”

ReflectingonfieldworkinDetroitandBerlinfrom2009to2015,thischaptercriticallyinterrogatesthechallengesposedbymassurbanruin,throughthecomplexredevelopmentandreimaginingofDetroit,and specific sites of ruin and renewal. Value-based “demolition for development” (Mah 2012)remediates dereliction and abandonment with large-scale developments that sever historical andcommunityties,cateringinsteadtoincomingpopulationsandofficialimaginariesthatoftenperceiveneighbourhoods as empty or open for business, rather than actively (if sparsely) inhabited. TheimaginaryofDetroit, longdominatedbyrust-beltaesthetics,hasbeenreshaped inrecentyearsbyaseries of developer-led renewal strategies that frame Detroit as a green-growth city. However, asDetroitisreimaginedasanurbanlaboratory,andpartsofthecitytransform,vulnerableresidentsaresubject to what Sara Safransky (2014) calls settler colonialism and green dispossession.Simultaneously,urbandecaypersistsoutsidetheregenerationzones:brownfields,industrialruinsandabandonmentarecommonand,asGeorgeGalster(2012)highvacancyismovingoutwardastheinnercity revives. Reimagining is simultaneously not nearly enough, and discursively so aggressive as tothreaten the erasure of communities and the (often difficult) histories from the semi-vacant zonesselectedforrenewal. AndreasHuyssen(2003)observedthatinpost-reunificationBerlin,renewalofformer ruins indicated that normal life was returning to derelict quarters - but he also noted thatillegibilitiesanderasuresarosefromthisregeneration.Thischapterconsiderssimilar illegibilities inDetroit’s obsolete architectures through the work of Walter Benjamin and others, to evaluate thecomplexity of urbanmemory and the value ofmodern ruins beyond economic and redevelopmentconcerns.Session4:Re-appropriatingvacancy

C. O’Callaghan & C. Di Feliciantonio “Alternative projects over vacant spaces in the cities of

crisis.Whatmakespossibletheirendurance?”

Thecrisisofcapitalisminitsmanifestationinurbanspaceoffersthepossibilityforalternativevisionsandprojectsoverproperty (especiallyvacancies) togainvisibilityandconsensus.Vacancybecomesvisible and politicized in different contexts for different reasons. Nevertheless, commonalities andconvergencesexist.Howeversomeofthesevisionsandalternativesarenotabletopersistovertime,they remain ¢contingent¢ and result unable to shape alternative futures, while others are easilysubsumed by capitalist rationality. What makes possible for some of these visions and projects toresistovertimewhileothersarerapidlyincorporatedintheurbancapitalistmachine?BuildingonourresearchworkonBarcelona,Berlin,DublinandRome,inthischapterwearguethatthreefactorsplayacentralrole indetermining thepossibilities for these initiatives toshapealternative futures, resistover timeandgobeyond the ¢crisis¢ contingentphase.The first one is representedby ideology andhegemonyinaGramscianperspective:thelackofanideologicalprojectandthedis-engagementwithcreating cultural and political hegemony make the initiatives volatile, easily subsumable fromcapitalist rationality. The second one concerns (immaterial) infrastructures and the political, socialand territorial embeddedness of the initiatives: transnational solidarity, involvement of peoplepreviously involved in other projects and social struggles, political background of the participants,shared practices. The third one is theworkontheself needed to shape an alternative subjectivity;followingGibson-Graham (2006),we argue that thework on creating alternative futures cannot bedetachedfromacontinuousworkoneverydayrelationsandactions.Underpinningtheintersectionofthesethreefactorsisthecontingentwaysinwhich“vacancy”isarticulatedasanurban“problem”indifferent cities at different times and in response to different relational events. This contextual andconjuncturalcontingencyshapeshowthesethreefactorscomeintobeing.

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M. Ferreri “Learning from temporary use: translation, value claims and on-demand

communitiesinthe‘fringes’oftheQueenElizabethOlympicPark”

Thevalueofusingvacant spacesona temporarybasisaremultipleandcompeting.Fromarchitectsandartiststopolicy-makers,differentgroupsinvolvedinshort-termpracticeshavelongarguedtheirintrinsicaswellasextrinsicvaluesinrelationtowiderprocessesofurbantransformation.Onesuchclaim is that temporary use facilitates processes of urban learning that can positively inform amoreincrementalandcommunity-orienteddevelopmentofvacantland.InthispaperIaimtoanalysethisclaim in thespecificcontextof theredevelopmentplans forHackneyWick,aneighbourhoodonthe‘fringes’oftheQueenElizabethOlympicParkinEastLondon.DrawingonthecasestudyofHub67,atemporaryyouthandcommunitycentreonvacantland,Iexaminevalueclaimsandtheirtranslationby institutional and community actors involved in its commission and delivery. Drawing uponinterviewswithplanners,architectsandsocialworkers,thepaperunravelscompetingpositionsandassessesthepowerdynamicsandtemporalitiesatplay,bothintheirspecificityandinrelationtothecompeting agendas of the 'legacy' of the London 2012 Olympic Games. This analysis informs thecritiqueofanemerginglogicof‘on-demandcommunities’groundedinthenormalizationofprecarioussocial benefits in contexts of urban regeneration. In concluding, I raise the question of whether'learningthroughtemporaryuse'constitutesatestinggroundfornewandproblematicformsofurbangovernanceattimesofincreasingdispossessionandprecarization.

M.Caulkins"TheSpatialPoliticsofSquattingMovementsinSãoPaulo”

This chapter explores the interplay between agonistic engagement and radical autonomy (Gonik2015) in thehousingpoliticsof thecityofSãoPaulo.Thespatialpolitics (Butler2013)of squattingmovements is producing a differential spatiality while influencing municipal and federal socialhousingpolicies.A central element of thedominant spatial project is a narrowdefinitionof privatepropertythatleadsto ‘landsweating’andphenomenalratesofvacancyincentralareasofSãoPaulo(Earle 2012). On the other hand, themovements’ spatial ‘counter-project’ justifies squats in vacantbuildingstohousetheurbanpoorbasedontheSocialFunctionofPropertythatwaswrittenintotheBrazilianConstitutionin1988.Themovements’radicalimaginaryisoperationalisedthroughtheuseof slogans but limited through an exclusive focus on private property as a solution. Their specificspatial practices are supported by lawyers, architects, judges, and a national coalition of socialmovements. The physical space of the occupied buildings limits evictions and contributes to theimpactontheimaginaryofthewidersocietywhilethepresenceoftheoccupationsinthespaceofthecentre leads to a differential implementation of legislative tools regarding urban vacancy. ClearlyspaceandlawarekeytoolsinthisspatialpoliticsofhousingandthevacancyofthecentreofSãoPauloisitselfcontributingtothecreationofadifferentialspatiality.

Key-notebyChristinaLee(CurtinUniversity)“BuildingtheModernRuin:GhostCitiesofChina”

Chinaiscurrentlyinthethroesofurbandevelopmentandmodernisationonanunprecedentedscale.A by-product of its feverish future planning, decentralised fiscal policies and speculative propertymarket is the ‘ghostcityphenomenon’;newlybuiltcitiesthataredevoidofathrivingpopulation,orany population whatsoever. This presentation explores the ghost city as modern ruin, focusing onOrdosKangbashiinInnerMongolia.Thereisanarrestingstrangenessabouttheplacethatepitomisesa case of living with contradiction, that is, living with the old and new (and the newer), ruin andmonument, excess and emptiness. While construction continues throughout Ordos, projectsabandonedyearsagojutoutlikeconcretecarcassesfromthelandscape.Andofthosestructuresthatarefinished,manyareinvaryingstatesofdeteriorationresultingfromthehasteinwhichtheywereerected. Thisdeterioration is compoundedby theirunder-utilisation, frombarely-used stadiums tounoccupied apartment complexes. Interested in how local histories intersect with the affective,embodiedexperienceofthecity,Iwishtomovebeyondadiscourseofcrisisorfetishisedruins.Howcan Ordos’ vacant spaces be rethought, activated and (re)used? What modes of engagement arepossiblebetweencommunity,policy-makers,urbanplannersandscholarsinenactingdesiredchange?Thesequestionsextendbeyondthecasestudyathand,invitingpointsofcommonalityanddeparture

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withexamplesfromtheWest,aswellaselucidatingthedifficultiesofconceptualisingandresearching‘newurbanruins’.Session5:Thepoliticsofruins

J. Sarmento, E. Brito-Henriques & P. Morgado “Urban ruination: suspended projects in

Guimarães,Portugal

The experience of contemporary urbanity is inescapablymarked by the presence of abandonment,ruination and emptiness. Ruined buildings, abandoned yards and vacant lands are ubiquitouspresencesincontemporarycities.Lately,thefocushasbeenputinreversingurbanruinsandderelicts,andlittleattentionhasbeendevotedtoruinationprocessesandthemorphologyandabilitiesofthesespaces. This chapter starts by outlining the NoVoid research project: Ruinsandvacant lands in thePortuguese cities: exploring hidden life in urban derelicts and alternative planning proposals for theperforated city (2016-2019). This is a project which aims at identifying, analysing and proposingusages of ruined and vacant lands in Portugal, by focusing on four specific cities: Lisbon, Barreiro,Guimarães and Vizela. The projectworkswith four broad types/categories of ruined urban spaces:‘ruinedbuildings’,‘ruinedbackyards’,‘suspended/abortedprojects’,and‘vacantspaces’.Itdeparturesfromaverticalperspectiveandapurelymorphologicalperspective,byanalyzingaerialmaps,and isthen complemented by using Google Earth and Google Street View. Field identification is used tovalidate uncertain situations. The second part of the chapter focuses on a preliminary analysis of‘suspended/abortedprojects’inGuimarães.WhilethisseemsnottobeamajorissueinaconsolidatedcitysuchasLisbon, it iswidespread inamorediffusedurbancontext.Mostcases refer topre2008projects,andtypicallyreflectfamilies’demandfordetachedorsemidetachedhouses.Asbanksalmoststopped lending money, both for building companies and for individuals and families, 8 years oflethargyinthepropertymarketfollowed.2016presentsadifferentcontextasbanksarenow‘backinbusiness’ (Troika’s departed in May 2014), property prices are increasing and some of these‘suspended/aborted projects’ are being rescued to the orbit of property development and financialspeculation.Othersremain idle,openingbreachesand indeterminacy,allowing for theemergenceofsocio-naturalhybridizations.P.Arboleda“GRANDTOUR:TheGreatBeautyofIncompiutoSiciliano”

Duringthelast50years,andduetothedilapidationoffunds,hundredsofpublicworkshaveremainedunfinished in Italy, and especially in Sicily. In 2007, the group of artists Alterazioni Video declaredtheseruinsasaformalarchitecturalstyle–theso-called‘IncompiutoSiciliano’–throughwhichtheypursuetorecoverincompletionbackfrominstitutionalneglectsobuildingscouldfinallybeusefulforfuturegenerations.DuringoneweekinSeptember2015,IaccomplishedajourneyinwhichIvisitedadozenof IncompiutoSicilianoworksacrossall Sicily.This leadsme tostudymyownconditionasaresearcher/tourist to then investigate the unruly potential of unfinished publicworks. I argue that,while some buildings may well be reactivated, in a realistic sense, many others will remainuncompleted forever. Far from perceiving this as a tragic fate, my objective is to value unfinishedpublic works in their current ruined condition, placing them as catalysts of aesthetic experiences.Additionally,throughtheuseofmyownpersonalnarrativesandtheelaborationofvideos,myaimistoadvanceinthewaywecommunicateandmediateembodiedencounterswithmodernruins.D.Keech&O.Jones“Narrativeswithinurbanruins:WorldHeritage,WorldWar,ColdWar”

Much scholarly and cultural interest in ruins has emerged in recent years. In stimulating bothgeographicalandhistorical imaginations,weseeruinsastemporal-spatialdisruptionstothesmoothspaces-times of the contemporary. Ruins are portals into, and nodes of, the ecologies of materialprocessesandnarrativeswhichmakethebodiesofspace-time(past,presentandfuture).Theyarethe‘bones’ leftoncethe‘softtissue’ofsomeearliermaterialisedlife(mundaneormomentous)haspast.Differing types of ruins can offer such worm holes to other regions of ecological becoming and

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narratives thereof which are known, can be known, or more obscure – depending on the viewer.Focusing on three cities – Bath, London and Tallinn – we examine how different narrativeconfigurationsreveal thematerial,narrativeandtemporaldynamismofurbanruinsand landuse. InBath, ghosts of a lost horticultural industry survive in street names and archives. Ecocide in thesurroundingcountryspurs localactivists to resurrect foodgrowingevenwhile the ‘dollsparlour’ofGeorgian facades crowd out other narratives the city conceals. Rose Macauley’s account of bomb-damaged London in The World My Wilderness provides refuge for social renegades and vibrantwildlife-tobetidiedup.Lastly,theconcreteremainsoftheOlympicsailingparkatTallinn,evenasitdisintegrates, is becoming a start-up hub for micro-enterprises.We consider: how can incomplete,rhyzomicnarrativesbestbeheard,andhow,giventhehorrorsofHoms,Aleppo,canruinscontinuetohelpustolookforward.Key-note by Alexander Vasudevan (University of Oxford) “The Fragile City: Towards a

GenealogyofUrbanPrecarity”

In this paper, I seek to develop a critical programme for exploring the relationship between themultiple precarities of contemporary urban life and the material promise of a radical politics ofinfrastructure. The paper builds on research conducted with squatters, tenant groups and otherhousing activists across Europe. It examines, in particular, how an increasingly permanent sense ofinsecurityhasbecomeacentralfeatureofthecontemporaryurbanexperienceforagrowingnumberofEuropeans.While recent social scientific scholarshiphasdefined theexpansionof labourand lifeinsecurityasaformof"precarity",publicandacademicunderstandingofthegeographicaldimensionsof precarious living and its impact on how we think about, inhabit and re-animate cities remainslimited.Inresponse,thepaperexplorestheparticularchallengesthatquestionsofprecarityposeforour conceptualisations of urban form, substance and practice. It focuses, on the one hand, on howcities have becomekey laboratories for the production of new forms of urban abandonment. But italsodrawsattention,ontheotherhand,tothepracticesofcare,enduranceandinhabitationandthevariousattachmentsandalliancesthathaveemergedinresponsetothequestionofprecariousurbanliving. It is in these practices, the paper ultimately argues, that one may detect themakingof analternativeinfrastructureandthepossibilitiesforradicalurbanchange.

Session6:Architecture

P. Jones “Architecture as Spatio-Temporal Fix (Or: Today's Urban Capitalist Development is

Tomorrow'sRuin)”

Spatio-temporal fixes (Harvey, 1974), here understood as urban reconfigurations of thosecapitaliststrategieswhoseprofitabilityhasdeclined,haveadistinctlyarchitecturalcharacter.Spacesofprevious 'failing' capitalist strategies become the fertile experimental terrain on which newspeculativeformsofaccumulativepracticeplayout;architecture'sstatusasfixedcapitaliscrucialtounderstanding the embedding of such in time and place. Accordingly, strategies of urbanentrepreneurialismhaveanambiguousrelationshipwithvacancy,itselfamanifestationofthehighlyuneven development of capitalism. Liverpool One, a retail and residential development opened in2008 and owned and controlled on a 250 year lease, illustrates these contentions aptly. Occupying500,000 sqmetresof central urban space (itself bordering a 'regenerated' docklandwaterfront sitethatwascrucialtothecity'shistoricwealth),theworkofthetwenty-ninearchitectswhodesignedtheLiverpoolOnesiteprovidedthebasisforkeyelementsofthedevelopers'claimsconcerningtimeandspace - failures of the past as well as hope associated with future accumulative models - to be'emplaced'. Drawing from conceptualisation associated with Harvey's work, Liverpool One'sarchitectural production is analysed as centrally-implicated to recent accumulation strategiesassociatedwithreconfigurationsoftemporalityandurbanscale.Theoverarchingsuggestionisthat,asa speculative, entrepreneurial project inwhich crisis if offset - albeit formany hundreds of years -Liverpool One can in effect be understood as a future ruin, whose vast, contemporary [new]architecturalformowesmuchtotheactiveconstructionofpastcrises.

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D.Martin “Arrested developments and hopeful audacities: on the role of architecture in the

assemblingofnewurbanforms”

InthischapterIdrawontheproposalsofthearchitectCedricPrice,especiallyhis‘Magnet’projectofshort lifestructuresincentralLondon, inordertointerrogatethelogicsofcontemporarydiscourseson temporary cities, vacant spaces and new urban ruins. As a practitioner who understoodarchitecturenotsomuchasartefacts inspacebutratherevents intime,revisitingPrice’s ideasnowoffers us a sense of the possible role of architects in the refashioning of post-crisis cities in moreimaginative,generousand justways.Priceoffersamodelofarchitectureasa formofspatialagency(Awan, Schneider and Till 2011), with his provocations for the re-appropriation of urban space achallenge to traditionalmodesofplanningandprofessional expertise.DrawingonhisMagnetplanspromptsustoconsiderwhetherdrivestorecyclevacantspacesintoprocessesofurbandevelopmentaretooacceleratedandpathdependentintheirthinking.Rather,whatmaybebetteristoarrestthepace of reclaiming city sites for profit (as conventionally understood), and to think through thetemporal dynamics and potentialities of urban spaces as incubators of more hopeful and durablefutures.Todowouldbe toutilise the interstitial spacesof thecity tocraftanurbanismof ‘ordinaryaudacities’(Tonkiss2013:323),andadvocateforaminorpracticeofarchitecture(Stoner2012).L.Pohl“AnomaliesoftheVerticalCity:Ghostscrapersandthedeathdriveofarchitecture”

InhisbookVertical,StephenGrahamillustratesthepoliticalrelevanceofskyscrapersintermsoftheircreationanddestruction.Whiletheyareverticalsymbolsofcapitalisturbanizationontheonehand,skyscrapersbecome targets for fictitious and terrorist attackson theother.Therefore, creation anddestructionarethetwopoliticaloptionsforskyscraperstoaffecttheverticaldevelopmentofcapitalistcities.Whatismissinginsuchanapproachisthepossibilityofaskyscrapertobecomeboth,createdanddestroyedatthesametime.ThisiswhatIrefertoasaghostscraper.FollowingSlavojŽižek,Iseektoproposeaphilosophicallyaswellaspsychoanalyticallyinspiredframeworktoanalyzethepoliticalrelevance of vertical ruination. Ghostscrapers therefore uncover a key feature of capitalism, thepermanentproductionofuselesspilesofwaste.Thus, theymaterializewhatIcall thedeathdriveofarchitecture, the inherent excess of capitalism to produce a surplus which serves no purpose.Empirically, the paper focuses on Detroit which is not only a role model of post-crises urbandevelopment,butalsohoststhemosticonicruinoftheUnitedStates–theMichiganCentralStation.Bydrawing on the contradictory perceptions of the once tallest train station in the world, I seek toencourage an understanding of ruination as symptomatic for vertical cities. Ghostscrapers arethereforeneitheraccidentalnorexceptional,buthavetobetakenforgrantedaslongascitiesarebuilttowardthesky.DAY3(March3rd)

Session7:ThelivedcharacterofvacancyS.F.Trigo“Urbanvacantland:aproductionprocessintheLondoncontext”

Urbanvacantlandisaphenomenonthathasbeenstudiedworldwide.Allthestudiessharethebeliefthat urban land is a scarce resource and therefore, its best use is of great importance to society.However,thestudiesshowlittleconsensusastowhysomesitesremainvacantforalongtimedespiteall theefforts tobring themback to ‘optimal’uses.The literature reviewhashighlighted two issuesthat might be underpinning the problem of urban vacant land. 1) An epistemological issue: thedefinitionofvacantlandinitself–inEnglandalone,ithaschanged8timesinthepast40years;2)Anontological issue: the transformation process of vacant land has been portrayed as a closed systemdespite its dynamic/dialectical nature. Drawing on Lefebvre’s and Massey’s work, this researchsuggests that we look at the problem from a social construct perspective. The focus should be onpeople’smultipleperceptionsandunderstandingsofvacant landand its transformationprocess, thenarratives that come out of that, and their interaction. The research looks at two case studies inLondon: Silvertown Quays and Battersea Power Station. They reveal a ‘filtering process’ of the

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narrativesaroundvacantland,whichcreatesasinglenarrativethatplacesthefutureofvacantlandona dominant position over its past and its present. The research suggests that understanding vacantlandastheoutcomeofalandproductionprocess,shapedthroughthefilteringofsocialandtemporalrelations,couldshedsomenewlightontheproblem.J. Hudson “Using derelict space: The spatio-temporal qualities of urban vacancy and the

productionoftheinformalcity”

Cities evolve constantly as a consequence of cycles of accumulation and dissolution. The spatialmanifestation of these factors is made visible as cities’ constituent parts outgrow the boundariesimposedbyspatialplanning,orconverselyshrinkbackfromthese(Oswalt,2005;Berger,2006;GribatandHuxley,2015).Theseprocessesaredistinguishedbypluraltemporalities;accordingly,“insteadofbeing a solid thing, the city is a becoming” (Crang, 2001: 187). This chapter draws attention to themultiple temporalities associated with the production, reproduction and use of urban space,particularlyhighlightingthecontingent‘reuses’andalternativepracticesthatrhythmsassociatedwith‘stagnation’ produce.By focusingon a site inManchester,UK– a ‘new ruin’ (DeSilvey andEdensor,2013)producedbythe2008financialcrisisandresultingausterity–Ihighlighthowtheunintendedtemporal gaps that appear between institutionally imposed modes of ‘stoppage’ and the planned‘resumption’ of ‘top-down’ planning strategies create vacancy, but also allow other informal,‘improvised’(TillandMcArdle,2015)practicestounfold.Sucheverydayinterventionsoccuroutsideof officially regarded ‘temporary use’ projects, (linked with both processes of ‘precarity’ andgentrification and creative re-inhabitations of “wasted space times” (Rall andHaase, 2011;Tonkiss,2013;Ferreri,2015andHarris,2015:594;O’CallaghanandLawton,2015).Iarguethatthesepracticesand the complex temporal processes that create and sustain them, can serve to focus attention onpolicies about urban vacancy, and extend understanding about use value and temporal urbanprocesses. Accordingly, this critique reasserts the role of the temporal with regard to the(re)productionofurbanspace.Key-note by K. Till (National University of Ireland Maynooth) “Urban Remnants, Ruins and

Revenants: Moving between pasts and futures through memory-work and place-based

engagements”As Andreas Huyssen (2003: 6) suggests, ‘in a media and consumer society that increasingly voidstemporalityandcollapsesspace’,theobsessionwithmemoryisasymptomofafundamentalcrisisinurbanimaginaries.Howevertheworkofmemoryalsoremainscritical‘toregainastrongtemporalandspatial grounding of life and the imagination’ (ibid). In this talk I highlight such ‘groundings’ byproviding examples of activists’, residents’ and artists’ engagementwith urban remnants, ruins andrevenantsindifferent ‘woundedcities’.Notonlydotheseindividualsandgroupsworkwithmaterialandsymbolicrelics, theirmemoryworkandplace-basedpracticesprovideinsights intothecomplexand contingent ways that the spatial and temporal are always interwoven, thus providing a richground for alternative urban imaginaries. The talk complements recent work by O’Callaghan, DiFeliciantonioandByrnewhoconsiderhowactivists,marginalisedcommunitiesandalternativesocialprojectsusetheurbanremaindersproducedbyneo/lateliberalcitiesasresources,providingpossiblemodelsforurbancommonsandevenspacesofsurvival.Session8:Dublin.K. Guinan “‘Creative’ government approaches to urban vacancy in Dublin: patronage orinstrumentalisation?”Intheyearsfollowingthe2008financialcrisisartistsplayedaprominentroleinthereuseofvacantspaceinDublin.IndependentartorganisationssuchasBlockT,theArtTunnel,BasicSpaceandMabostookadvantageofplummetingrentalratesandestablishedgalleries,studiosandperformancevenuesacrossthecity.DublinCityCouncilaccreditedtheseorganisationsandsupportedthemwithschemes

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suchas theVacant Spaces Initiative (2014) andprojects suchas theArtTunnel (2010) andGranbyPark (2013). Having previously relied on incentivised private development to solve urban vacancyrates,theseinnovationsaretellingofanewimperativewithinD.C.C.to‘creatively’tackletheissue.Thecouncilneverthelessrepeatedlyreferredtothesecreativeorganisationsas‘interim’usesand,truetothe term,mostwere pressured into closure oncemarket conditions became favourable again post-2012.Thischapter thereforeconsiders thepolitical substanceofD.C.C.’s creativeapproach tourbanvacancy;askingwhetheritrepresentedasupportforartinitownrightortheinstrumentalisationofartforregenerativepurposes.Ittakesasitsstartingpointthethesisthatculture-leddevelopmentinDublinhashistoricallybeenaproductofneoliberalurbanplanning,whichseekstoestablishthecityasaninnovativecompetitoronanincreasinglyinternationalfinancialstage.P.Crowe,K.Foley&A.Corcoran“TheReusingDublinExperiment:ExploringGeddesianideas

throughinteractivemapping”

This paper reports on the findings of an experiment in mapping underused spaces,www.reusingdublin.ie,carriedoutaspartofthetransdisciplinaryEUFP7TURASproject(www.turas-cities.eu),ledbyUCD,in2015-16.ReusingDublinwasaresponsetotheobservationthatspaceisnotusedefficiently inurbanareas,andthat thishasnumeroussystemicandnegativeconsequences, forexample related tourban sprawl, resourcedepletion,negativevisual and social impacts, anda falseimpressionof scarcity.ReusingDublin is anonlinemappingplatform thatengages citizenswith theunderuse of space, and generates spatially distributed data through crowd-sourcing thatwould nototherwise exist. Results relating to civic engagement and mapping data are presented, andimplications for public policy discussed. The map of underused spaces is put forward as a spatialtemplate for change in the city, and an example of urban resilience (as the application of socialecologicalsystems thinking to thecity) inpractice.ThepaperwilldemonstratehowReusingDublinuses ICT to realize ideas relating to theCivic Survey and rehabilitationof derelict sites intoGardenPlaygrounds of Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) in Dublin and Edinburgh. The paper will conclude byreportingonprogressoftheprojectincludingthehostingoftheplatformbythePeterMcVerryTrustto identifyvacantproperty inprivateownership, anda consequentexperiment thatuses smart citytools inAarhus,Denmark (develograyed aspart of theHorizon2020www.organicity.euproject) tomapunderusedspaces,andinitiatesaco-creationprocessesinthosespaceswithcitizensandrelevantstakeholders.R.McArdle“‘SquatCity’:Squattingasanexplicitlypoliticaltemporaryuseinpost-crisisDublin”

Temporary landuseshavebeencriticisedasreifyinganeoliberalagenda,byprovidingashort-termsolutiontovacancyinatimeofeconomicdownsizingwhilefailingtoengagewiththeurbanprocessesand policies which have resulted in the current levels of vacancy which we see in cities. Using ananalysisof temporaryuseasobtainedthroughqualitativedata(interviews,ethnographicnotes)andmedia analysis this paper envisions new ways of looking at temporary uses of vacant spaces asexplicitly political movements while remaining short-term and impermanent. While some scholarshave looked at neoliberalism in reference to squatting (Chatterton, 2002, Di Feliciantonio, 2016,HodkinsonandChatterton,2006), fewhave lookedat the inter-relatedtriadofsquatting, temporaryuseandvacancy,inanIrishcontext.Thisarticleproposestodothis,inanIrishcontext,byanalysingtheGrangegormanSquat,asquatwhichwasopenintermittinglyfrom2013to2016intheSmithfieldareaofNorthDublin.Asasemitoleratedsquatfor3years,itclosedinAugust2016,whenthesitewassoldaspartofthe'apparent'uptakeofthepropertymarketinIreland.Thus,thissquatisexemplaryofthe boom and bust cycles of urban development as its closure and redevelopment as studentaccommodationspeakstothefutureoftheSmithfieldarea.Usingananalysisofthesquatstemporaryuse as obtained through qualitative data (interviews, ethnographic notes) and media analysis thispaper envisions new ways of looking at temporary uses of vacant spaces as explicitly politicalmovementswhileremainingshort-termandimpermanent.