BSP Public Lecture: Cities in Time. Temporary Urbanism and the Future of Cities

Speaker: Professor Ali Madanipour  is Professor of Urban Design at Newcastle University

Abstract

From street-markets and pop-up shops to art installations and Olympic parks, the temporary use of urban space is a growing international trend in architecture and urban design. Partly a response to economic and ecological crisis, it also claims to offer a critique of the status quo and an innovative way forward for the urban future. This lecture will draw upon the recently published Cities in Time to explore and understand the phenomenon, offering a first critical and theoretical evaluation of temporary urbanism and its implications for the present and future of our cities. It will argue that temporary urbanism needs to be understood within the broader context of how different concepts of time are embedded in the city. In any urban place, multiple, discordant and diverse timeframes are at play – and the lecture will explore these different conceptions of temporality, their causes and their effects. Themes explored include how institutionalised time regulates everyday urban life, how technological and economic changes have accelerated the city's rhythms, our existential and personal senses of time, concepts of memory and identity, virtual spaces, ephemerality and permanence.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception at the back of the theatre.

Find the full lecture series schedule here.

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