Austerity urbanism: connecting strategies and tactics for participatory placemaking
- Submitting institution
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Birmingham City University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32Z_OP_D1006
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1080/15710882.2020.1761985
- Title of journal
- CoDesign
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 1-17
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- -
- ISSN
- 1571-0882
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2020
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
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-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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2
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This article explores the processes by which small-scale urban practices engage community groups in participatory placemaking. It looks at how, in the context of austerity, such engagements may be used as an alternative method to developing government or commercially funded parks and urban spaces. The research was undertaken through the critical analysis of ‘Pocket-Park’, a participatory action-research project which was led by the authors and which engaged in the ideation and implementation of a community-run project. The project was part of a wider endeavour which was supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government for UK. ‘Pocket-Park’ was awarded several international prizes including SEED awards 2017, Portland, USA; Green Gown Awards 2017, UK; ArchDaily’s best design-build projects worldwide 2016.
This research draws on de Certeau’s theory of strategies and tactics (‘The Practice of everyday life’, 1984) to explore the relationship between top-down strategies and bottom-up tactics in urban placemaking in response to the politics of austerity. Through a systematic analysis of the project, a process of ‘manoeuvres’ (or strategic tactics) was identified between de Certeau’s two concepts in which participants undertake a translational process to unlock the resources needed to support tactical placemaking. The article introduces the innovative concept of ‘manoeuvres’ into de Certeau’s theoretical lexicon of tactics and strategies and applies it to the practices of production and consumption of everyday life. In doing so this work provides a novel development to a highly influential theory that uniquely facilitates creative practice and supports non-commercialized public placemaking.
The article is published in a highly ranked international journal (18 on the H index) and contributes to the theoretical debates on tactics and strategies which are key issues in the spheres of applied research in architecture, art and design. The article uniquely positions these approaches in relation to austerity.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -