Presence-Experiences—The Eventalisation of Urban Space

Abstract

Introduction Urban design is about form and about governing the social use of city space to make it disciplined, repetitious, tamed. When urbanism is about the spatialisation of life, we must consider, as Henri Lefevbre suggests, that``every plan is a plan for an everyday life'' (Franze¨n and Sandstedt, 1982, page 6). There is certainly a moral in urban design (Joyce, 2003) and urban planning must be seen as being about`orchestrating' life (Sennett, 1991). Urbanism is intentional but is no longer understood as deterministic, and for a critical understanding of urbanism it is important to stress, as Michel Foucault does, that``the architect has no power over me'' (1986, page 247). Predefined space indeed is often subject to different kinds of counteractions such as graffiti and what might be called`reclaiming the space' by alternative use. Cities, of course, see themselves in a much more positive light. The lively and intense, exciting and experimental, spontaneous city (`everything can happen') is now highly praised by politicians, and no city wishing to be part of an interurban competition dares to ignore planning for this symbolic force. All cities believe that, if they have the best sociocultural amenities and creative milieus, architectural heritage, and cultural events, they have a reliable strategy to get the maximum in return, in consumption and image turnover. It seems as if these cities, in particular, focus on mega-events as an efficient short-term way to gain fast money. This common outlook is seen as part of the growing importance of the sign economy (Lash and Urry, 1994) that now is epitomised as the need to attract a creative class of innovative minds living as hardworking cosmopolitans. This is why

Participation in urban interventions. Meaning-effects and urban citizenship

“…The local activist's intervention could be seen as a "presenceeffect" developed in the relational space of the event, and thus tied to the unpredictability that each event unavoidably carries with it (Pløger, 2010). In spite of the fact that each MC event was widely documented by the organizing group, it was not possible to find any trace of the local activist's intervention.…”

“…(Pløger, 2010). The two dimensions correspond to the double meaning of the right to the city outlined by Lefebvre (Purcell, 2006): the former concerns the use and appropriation of space through event participation, the latter refers to the centrality of such participation in defining the event's meaning-effects.…”

“…The relevance of urban events is nowadays significant enough to give rise to a new modality of production of space (Lefebvre, 1992): the "eventification of places" (Jakob, 2012) or "eventalisation of urban space" (Pløger, 2010). As whatever production of space, lived ("eventified") spaces result from the intersection between perceived and conceived spaces (Purcell, 2003): the material settings experienced and perceived during events and the variety of representations and narratives by which events are used to valorize the urban space (Pavoni, 2011).…”

Justifying and resisting public park commercialisation: The battle for Battersea Park

“…They can make the public character of public spaces more visible (Citroni and Karrholm , 2017), create temporary 'assemblages' of people and materials (Sendra, 2015), and encourage different users and uses once they have ended (Lehtovuori, 2010). Drawing on Simmel's work, Pløger (2010) uses the term 'eventalisation' to refer to instances where temporary events highlight the potential for heterotopic use of urban space. In such analysis we see convergence between the notion of an event as an organised gathering of people and the idea of an event as a significant rupture of convention.…”

“…In such analysis we see convergence between the notion of an event as an organised gathering of people and the idea of an event as a significant rupture of convention. According to Gaffikin, Mceldowney and Sterrett (2010), changing the perception and social use of urban public spaces demands intervention that writes a new script; and events can act in this disruptive fashion, creating revised narratives and alternative modes of social ordering (Pløger, 2010).…”