Abstract
As a corollary of the global financial crisis of 2008, vacancy has become, once again, a visible and politically significant issue, playing a key role in determining how cities respond to both local and wider global challenges. Temporary use practices have been the focus of attention from scholars who have analysed them as both sites of resistance, but also as practices that enable neoliberal modes of governance. In the following chapter, I argue for a different focus on temporary use practices. The aim of this chapter is to explore post-crisis demands and unfold if and how these are attached to values of social justice and equity. The empirical fieldwork has been carried out in two European cities: Barcelona and Budapest. Methodologically, this study emerged from a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews and non-participatory observation of city council policies introduced after the crisis offering a public competition for the temporary use of vacant municipal sites. The two cities provide different contexts for analysis, Barcelona being a post-austerity Mediterranean city, and Budapest a post-socialist Eastern European city, offering examples outside of the mainstream Anglo-American literature and metanarratives of neoliberalising cities.
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- 1.
This is contrary to other international experiences, where urban commons rather refer to autonomous citizen practices, without the involvement of the public sector. Autonomous management is more typical in Madrid or Mexico City, while Italian cities also serve as such examples.
- 2.
Can Batlló is an old factory area located in the La Bordeta neighbourhood in the Sants-Montjuïc district. The residents together with the Sants Social Centre started a campaign to pressure the remodelling of the area. This platform for Can Batlló consisted of local social actors, housing cooperatives, architect collectives, movements and neighbourhood associations. The deadline of the campaign coincided with the start of CiU’s mandate on 1 June 2011. Just a few days before, the council offered a 1500 m2 space, (the so-called Block 11) of Can Batlló to the neighbourhood to perform social and cultural activities.
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The research was conducted at the Gran Sasso Science Institute, and the Institute for Regional Studies provided the opportunity to finish this chapter.
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Bródy, L.S. (2020). Debating Temporary Uses and Post-crisis Rationales in Barcelona and Budapest. In: Andres, L., Zhang, A.Y. (eds) Transforming Cities Through Temporary Urbanism. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61753-0_12
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