Description
Due to the changing needs and desires, buildings become obsolete over time leaving them vacant over a longer period before they are either demolished, renovated or reconverted. In many cities, this is becoming a real problem which leads to deprived neighbourhoods, vandalism and the diminishing of the living quality.To tackle the challenge of vacancy and give time and space for the design, temporary projects are organised in unused buildings in anticipation of future projects. As such, they preserve buildings, and utilise their materials and embodied energy which would be otherwise lost. However, in many cases, they do not reach their ambition of providing a long-term impact on the future project.
In fact, more often developers choose to demolish these buildings and construct new and performant buildings. Recently, a trend has been noticed where buildings, among which offices and industrial buildings, that have become obsolete in their location are being reconverted to housing. However, these projects are primarily intended for higher- or middle-class families and not for affordable housing even though there is a high demand.
To grasp the opportunities of both temporary projects and reconversion projects in dealing with vacancy, this study reflects on the relationship between bottom-up initiatives and long-term planning. By looking into the current practices to monitor vacancy and existing projects, both temporary and long-term reconversion, this study will put forward shortcomings in dealing with vacancy and some examples of best practices.
| Periode | 17 jul 2024 |
|---|---|
| Evenementstitel | Urban Futures - Cultural Pasts: Sustainable Cities, Cultures & Crafts |
| Evenementstype | Conference |
| Locatie | Barcelona, Spain |
| Mate van erkenning | International |