Published In
Footprint
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2013
Subjects
City planning -- Citizen participation, Sustainable development -- Social aspects, Urban anthropology
Abstract
In their word play on what design praxis might succeed the New Urbanism movement in the United States, the July 2013 article “Newest Urbanism” in the Architect introduced to the uninitiated the concept of tactical urbanism. Defining tactical urbanism as "temporary, cheap, and usually grassroots interventions—including so-called guerrilla gardens, pop-up parks, food carts, and 'open streets' projects—that are designed to improve city life on a block-by-block, street-by-street basis," the article claims that it took this approach to shaping the city less than a decade to mainstream into the practices of US cities and firms alike. While Architect used the term tactical urbanism, to characterize this effort, this essay will use the term participatory urbanism to discuss how ordinary people are engaged in making place. This discussion of participatory urbanism will: describe the context from which it emerged in the United States, define the term and its current manifestations, and describe an early example of participatory urbanism seeded by digital tools in order to raise questions about participatory urbanism role in the making of place in the twenty-first century.
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/12995
Citation Details
Wortham-Galvin, B.D. (2013) “An Anthropology of Urbanism: How People Make Places (and What Designers and Planners Might Learn from It),” Footprint, issue No. 13, p. 21-39.
Included in
Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons, Urban Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
Description
This is the publisher's final PDF and is © 2013 by Stichting Footprint. Originally published in Footprint and can be found online at: http://www.footprintjournal.org/issues/show/the-participatory-turn-in-urbanism