Transitory! Temporary! Tactical! Editorial ERA21 #03/2024

Jan Trejbal, Zuzana Stejskalová

It’s not really common practice in ERA21 to dedicate a part of the issue to explaining its title. But in the case of the temporary use of public spaces and buildings, it becomes essential. First, we should define transitory, temporary and tactical approaches. But with a closer look, we find out that actually everybody knows them—remember that one place not far from the town centre that hasn’t been used for years, and now a group of locals started taking care of it and built a DIY skatepark or organized outdoor screenings?

But it’s quite a different story from this point on, because the story of this issue is full of best practice examples in city planning, local business development or project evaluation—research and analysis that complement our understanding of a certain place. It’s a story of living in places or buildings that are only borrowed, a story we might not even be able to fully imagine yet. A story that is happening already as the cities of the global north (in the Euro-Atlantic space) change dramatically, and small towns in southern Italy sign memorandums of cooperation.

Mike Lydon, art in public space, Emily Berwyn, places for the development of crafts, Plateau Urbain, shaded green squares. All of these experts and projects are here to reduce prejudice, steer us away from long roads, and clear up doubts. We are at the very beginning, but we can’t ignore this any more. In our practice, in academia, everywhere. Let’s connect with each other, talk to our mayors, and revise our design processes. And let’s do this out there, in the laboratory.