Do-it-Yourself Urbanism

A History

Dados Bibliográficos

ID23345486
AutoresEmily Talen (0000-0001-5539-9512, Arizona State University, autor correspondente)
Ano2015
Volume14
Fascículo2
Páginas135-148
Data de publicação2015-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Planning History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1538-5132 • E-ISSN: 1552-6585
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1538513214549325
OpenAlexW2054091453
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas65

In the last several years, interest has surged in the idea of small-scale, incremental, “do-it-yourself” (DIY) urban improvement. Also known as “tactical,” “pop-up,” or “guerilla” urbanism, this brand of urban intervention is resident-generated, low budget, and often designed to be temporary. The approach is distinguished by being in direct opposition to top-down, capital-intensive, and bureaucratically sanctioned urban change of the kind most often associated with urban planning. The purpose of this article is to review the broader, historical rootedness of these efforts. DIY urbanism has been energized by a recession and a “right to the city” spirit of guerrilla tactics, but it is actually rooted in a deeper tradition of nineteenth-century civic engagement. Focusing on the American experience, I show that the idea of bottom-up, tactical, DIY urbanism forms an essential tradition in American urbanism, an impulse that runs counter to the narrative of urban abandonment, and as such forms an essential platform upon which notions of any “back to the city” movement draw support.

Abandonment (legal) · Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Capital (architecture) · Civil engineering · Narrative · New Urbanism · Opposition (politics) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Urban planning · Urbanism · Architecture · Engineering · History · Law · Urban Planning and Governance