The Process of Temporary Urban Design

What first got me excited about the idea of temporary urban design is the diagram below by Rick Agnes which was discussed on the Gehl cities for people blog in relation to the processes currently being implemented in Christchurch. As a concept it has only evolved relatively recently in response to a number of factors (e.g. natural disasters and the GFC) and really incorporates those intermediate, unplanned uses that can be put in place immediately in empty spaces throughout the city.  

The process of Temporary Urban Design @ Gehl Cities for People Blog

For the purpose of this blog I want to look at temporary urban design in terms of achieving a number of goals, namely; 

• Increasing activation and community involvement within our cities 
• Rebuilding a sense of community and bringing people back into the city after damaging natural disasters 
• Allowing for "unplanned", intermediate use of undeveloped land within a city 
• Creating unique uses which bring fun back into the urban realm 

So this basis leads us to the fun part from now on, looking at different temporary urban design that has been put in place worldwide, what it has achieved and in some cases even future ideas for temporary urban design! 

P.S. I promise this will start getting more colour and interest on the blog and I am working on learning my HTML to make the template more exciting! 

An Introduction

Hi All, 

I am Prudence Blake, a Town Planning student looking to become an urban designer that is about to embark on a thesis in regards to the use of and importance of temporary urban design in areas affected by natural disasters.

So with that out of the way, I am starting this blog, Urban Submarine, to keep track of my ideas in terms of what is happening all over the world in the realm of cool and innovative temporary urban design and artwork. In an age where people can increasingly live, work, shop and entertain all within their own homes, my basis is on the importance of maintaining and improving the public realm and getting people excited and active about going out into the city. 

Although this is mostly just to keep track of the ideas I find, hopefully it will also get the ideas of temporary urban design out there as it was something I knew little about until I was studying in the field of town planning and in order to be successful I think the initiatives really need to come from and be supported by the community. Primarily the focus of my thesis is what is happening in Christchurch in regards to rebuilding after the devastation of 1000s of earthquakes, but there will definitely be cool ideas of stuff I come across from all over the world. 

Please bear with me while I get my bearings on this blogging business, generally anything more than a tumblr is a bit beyond me at this point but we will get there! 

That's all for now, 

Prue