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同时存在的空间：为持续的城市发展而做的临时设计
Meanwhile Spaces: Temporary Interventions for Lasting Urban Development

由专筑网Zia，小R编译

当街道空空荡荡，商铺门窗紧闭，城市似乎失去了活力。当企业倒闭，写字楼萧条，经济活动减少时，运作城市的机构就会被闲置。空置的空间和土地往往被认为是“失败的”，反映了城市的衰落和经济凋敝。然而，空闲却蕴含着可能性和变革的希望。当城市的空闲处于转型的边缘时，与此同时会发生什么？

任何城市都见证了发展和空置的不断循环，这是经济和基础设施发展后的自然现象。从历史上看，空置的土地要么被遗弃，要么待开发，这些空间一直是临时占用公共用途的场所。这时，那些自下而上的社区空间倡议，使非生产性空间得到有效利用。

When streets lay empty, sidewalks untouched, and shutters hung heavy, the city seems lost of life. When businesses close, offices go remote and economic activity declines, the mechanisms that operate a city are idle. Vacant space and land are often perceived as “failed”, reflecting urban decline and economic blight. Emptiness, however, holds hope for possibilities and change. When urban voids are at the brink of transformation, what happens in the meanwhile?
Any city is a witness to the constant cycle of development and vacancy, a natural phenomenon following economic and infrastructural advancement. Historically, vacant land - either abandoned or yet to be developed - has been a host to temporary appropriations for public use. Bottom-up urban initiatives for community spaces have been initiated by activists to bring unproductive space into effective use.


Image © Raphaël Thibodeau

伦敦的The Meanwhile Gardens就是这样一个以“各取所需”的公共愿景为指导的过渡性案例。经过长期的争取，该地块作为社区花园的许可被临时批准。而管理委员会可能想在未来使用它，在此之前，当地居民将维护、保护和享受这个不会很快被开发的花园空间。

这种项目是由公共部门或开发商将废弃的场地在一定时间内租赁或借给当地社区、艺术组织、初创企业和慈善机构。这些场地可能是空置的或使用不足的商店、建筑、空地或土地。临时允许社区团体、小企业或个人以低于市场的价格从事经济活动，为社区和居民创造社会价值。

The Meanwhile Gardens in London is one such example of transitory urbanism guided by a communal vision of “taking what you can”. After a long struggle, permission to use the plot as a community garden was granted on a temporary basis as the governing council may want to employ it in the future. Around 50 years later, local residents continue to maintain, protect, and enjoy the garden which is unlikely to be developed by the council anytime soon.
The term meanwhile spaces refers to disused sites leased or loaned for a certain period of time by the public sector or developers to local community groups, art organizations, start-ups, and charities. These sites may be vacant or under-used shops, buildings, open spaces, or land. Temporary contracts allow community groups, small businesses, or individuals to pursue economic activity at below-market rates to generate social value for the neighborhood and its inhabitants.


Image © Alberto Roa

在经济衰退和COVID-19大流行等困难时期，空间使用不足的情况更加明显。为了应对健康危机，租赁的空间提供了适应性和实用性的用途。比如酒店变成了护理中心，公共空间被改造成支持安全社会活动和资源共享的场所。在封锁之后，当商店、银行、电影院和办公室都改为线上，这些空位因缺乏公共活动而使社区和城市中心变得落寞。类似于上文提到的项目，社区空间的出现加强了当地组织和恢复公共空间的能力。

这些空间背后的意图是增长创新的想法和赋予当地社区权力。通过设计和规划，如会议区、学习和培训空间、商店、餐厅和展览，城市地区和他们的社区见证了积极的转变。租赁可能只会持续几天到几年，但这些功能对当地的影响可能会持续很久。

Scenarios of under-used space are more pronounced in times of difficulties like economic recessions or more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the health crisis, meanwhile lease of space provided adaptive and practical uses. Hotels were rapidly turned into care centers and public spaces were retrofitted to support safe social activity and sharing of resources. Even after the lockdowns, when shops, banks, cinemas, and offices had moved online, their empty spaces blemished neighborhoods and city centers with a lack of public activity. Similar to the Meanwhile Gardens, meanwhile community spaces cropped up to strengthen the resilience of local organizations and public space.
The intent behind meanwhile spaces is to grow innovative ideas and empower the local community. Through interventions such as meeting areas, learning and training spaces, pop-up shops, eateries and exhibitions, urban areas and their communities witness positive transformation. The lease may last anywhere between a few days to a few years. The impact on localities may last up to a lifetime.


Image Courtesy of UN-Habitat, Global Public Space Programme

Les Grand Voisins是一处位于巴黎前圣文森特德保罗医院的项目，旨在探索规模化的灵活使用，为社区与社会和工作提供空间。这个混合用途的项目为企业家和创意人提供了一个可出租的空间和重新设计的户外空间，以适应艺术和文化活动。餐馆、商店、活动和露营等商业可以免租金入驻，以产生资助项目的维护和管理费用。随着医院重建工作的恢复，这个临时空间目前已经关闭，但Le Grand Voisins的印记仍然是有形的，可能影响到未来开发后的城市场景。

Exploring meanwhile use at scale, Les Grand Voisins - located in the former Saint Vincent de Paul Hospital, Paris - was developed as a space for the community to reconnect with society and work. The mixed-use project hosts a rentable space for entrepreneurs and creatives and a reimagined outdoor space to fit a program of artistic and cultural activities. Commercial pursuits like restaurants, shops, events, and campsites were introduced to help fund the project’s maintenance and management costs, occupying the site rent-free. The temporary space is currently shut down as the redevelopment of the hospital resumes. The imprint of Le Grand Voisins remains tangible at the site, and may influence future urban scenarios post-development.


Image © Yes We Camp

同时，这些项目可以减少当地社区的财政负担，并且刺激创业。负担得起的空间和灵活的条款允许多样化和实验性的初创企业在当地蓬勃发展，从而创造就业、公共活动和服务，提高社区的凝聚力和复原力。同时，空间促进了包容性社区的建设，通过当地的技能发展和改善环境产出来推进健康和福利，增强社会资本。重新激活废弃的空间也有助于减少城市蔓延的低效发展。

除了社区之外，这些空间也使开发商、土地所有者和政府受益。出租临时使用的空间，降低了非法占用的可能性，并带来临时收入。短期的社区空间可以作为当地经济的收入来源，同时提高了社区的活力，进一步吸引投资机会。在承租人和临时占用者之间的协议下，工作和项目可以顺利开始，也更容易取得成功。

Meanwhile spaces encourage entrepreneurship by decreasing the financial burden on local communities. Affordable spaces and flexible terms allow for diverse and experimental start-ups to flourish in the locality, thereby creating employment, public activity, and services that improve community cohesion and resilience. Meanwhile spaces promote the building of inclusive communities, enhancing social capital through local skills development and improving environmental outputs to advance health and wellbeing. Reactivating derelict spaces also helps reduce urban sprawl and inefficient development.
Apart from communities, these spaces benefit developers, land owners, and authorities as well. Leasing out space for interim use reduces the chance of unauthorized occupancy and brings in interim revenue. The short-term community space may serve as a source of income for the local economy while enhancing the appearance of the neighborhood and further attracting investment opportunities. Under such agreements between the tenant and the temporary occupant, paperwork and the project begin smoothly, making it easier to establish and remain successful.


Image © Leonid Furmansky

社会学家Fran Tonkiss在她的《Cities by Design: The Social Life of Urban Form》一书中写道：“城市环境的变化往往比城市形式的变化更快”。有鉴于此，同时存在的空间是城市再生的有效工具，特别是在遇到剧烈变化的时候。通过这种方法，城市空间的空隙被激活，有效反映当地社区不断发展的社会需求和优先项。空间使用的时效性为验证想法、建立共识和在需要时支持社区提供了安全的基础。

展望未来，这些同时存在的空间以其创造性的过渡能力，激发了城市活力。它们带来了一种认识，即空间要得到适当的发展，要响应社区当前和紧迫的需求，以逐步建立有弹性的城市。

In her book “Cities by Design: The Social Life of Urban Form”, sociologist Fran Tonkiss reminds urbanists that “urban contexts tend to change more quickly than the urban forms”. In this light, meanwhile spaces are an effective tool for urban regeneration, especially in times of drastic change. Through this approach, urban spatial voids are activated by reflecting the social demands and priorities of local communities as they evolve. The temporality of spatial use provides a safe foundation for testing ideas, building consensus and supporting communities in times of need.
Going forward, meanwhile spaces inspire urban activation efforts with their transitional abilities to create opportunities for long-term change. They instill a recognition that urban spaces must be developed appropriately, responding to the current and pressing needs of the community to gradually build resilient cities.

Written by Ankitha Gattupalli