Temporary Use as a Participatory Placemaking Tool to Support Cultural Initiatives and Its Connection to City Marketing Strategies—The Case of Athens

Abstract

For many cities, abandoned or underused spaces pose a major challenge, but temporary use is being manifested as a tool that can offer solutions. So-called “meanwhile spaces” provide opportunities for city officials to create the conditions for the cultural economy to be supported while simultaneously meeting urban regeneration goals and supporting city marketing purposes. In European cities, such as Berlin, Ghent, Nantes, and Bremen, there are examples where “temporary urbanism” is being incorporated into mainstream policy and is forming part of the city’s identity and tourism promotion. Temporary use is discussed in the context of current challenges facing European cities (austerity crisis, unemployment, refugee crisis, lack of affordable housing or office space). In this paper, the focus is on the creative sector. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked discussion on how temporary use can cover a community’s needs. In this contextual framework, the scope was to explore the conditions under which temporary use becomes an effective policy tool and discuss management issues and difficulties that may arise. A description and analysis of the particularities of initiatives that were implemented in Athens compared to the ones in other European cities are presented. This paper is partly based on the works of the Athens URBACT Refill project, which included an extended consultation process with local stakeholders. Further field research was conducted regarding how temporary use initiatives with a cultural focus have been managed and the way the relations between owners, managers, and users were formed. Feedback from users and stakeholders’ representatives is presented. The key findings refer to the evaluation of the approaches used in temporary use initiatives with a cultural focus, the future perspectives, and the difficulty with drawing early conclusions on the effectiveness of these initiatives and the impact on the reputation of the city. Finally, the discussion is linked with promoting Athens as a city that allows experimentation by citizens’ groups and cultural initiatives in the context of temporary interventions.

Competitiveness of cities in the post-pandemic time: The perspectives of residents and tourists

“…From the point of view of the city authorities, the provision and reorganization of public spaces is such an important initiative that it is used as one of the main elements of city marketing campaigns which create the city's identity. A review article dealing with this issue showed that it had become part of image campaigns in places offering residents temporary use during pandemic (Karachalis, 2021). Cities more and more often use social initiatives and various types of integrating events to improve their image and reputation, departing from commercial, traditional forms of advertising (Govers, 2018).…”

Crisis Marketing in the FMCG Sector: A Review of Strategies Nigerian Brands Employed During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…To understand the depth and breadth of these responses, compiling a comprehensive list of crisis marketing initiatives undertaken by FMCG brands in Nigeria is imperative. Karachalis (2021) emphasized the importance of participatory placemaking tools in supporting cultural initiatives, especially in the context of city marketing strategies. Drawing parallels, FMCG brands in Nigeria leveraged community engagement and participatory marketing strategies to stay connected with their consumer base.…”

Temporary housing environments in urban areas – challenges and key findings for implementation

“…Making the transition from the temporary to the permanent for the inhabitants is in this context a crucial aspect as a return to their original habitat is often not (immediately) possible for people who have moved to temporary shelter [3]. Other relevant applications address the experimentation with cultural activities [4] or the use of temporary vacant urban plots for the application of processes in a cultural context [5]. These creative applications of urban space or temporarily unused buildings have been extensively covered in one of the research papers that resulted from the here discussed project [6].…”