MICHELLE XU 635683
POPPIN’ UP IN SUNSHINE < Mary Poppins > is much more than just a name. When she suddenly appeared in the lives of the Banks, she brought along unity, magic and fun all in one. Similarly, the < POP UP CITY > program offers those same ideas in one package.
Addressing social infrastructure through community involvement and empowerment.
WHAT IS THIS ‘POP UP CITY’ THING?
IN A SNAPSHOT The ‘POP UP CITY’
The ‘POP UP CITY’ is a program created by the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) based in Cleveland, Ohio in the USA. It was established in 2007 in response to the decreased urban activity and excess vacant space in the area. Cleveland was a city that had a major decline in population from the 1950s, and there was a goal to bring life back into it (Spontaneous Interventions 2012). The program aims to “bring empty spaces to life through magical, ephemeral experiences that demonstrate how vacancy can be an opportunity and an adventure, not just a liability” (CUDC 2014). Through temporary events and installations, vacant buildings and various areas of land are occupied to highlight some of the lesser known but special places in Cleveland, reactivating the space. The ‘POP UP CITY’ shows that it is possible to have alternative activities occurring in spaces that have been created for a particular purpose and specific user time frame in a day such as a car park (figure 1), river front (figure 2), or an ordinary pedestrian bridge (figure 3).
Figure 4: Map of Sunshine Precinct. Source: Sunshine Town Centre Structure Plan.
Commits to social inclusion and community involvement Improves happiness and connectivity within the community Is urban creativity at its best (Landry 2000) Creates temporary spaces to cater for diversity Creates a city that we want (Harvey 2003) Has transitional and modifiable spaces (Sandercock 2003) Flexible and FREE to visit!
HOW CAN THIS IDEA BE APPLIED TO SUNSHINE? THE POSITIVES / OPPORTUNITIES
Figure 1: HIPP DECK (2011). Source: http://www.cudc.kent.edu/pop_up_city/.
Figure 2: LEAP NIGHT (2008). Source: http://www.cudc.kent.edu/pop_up_city/.
APPLYING IT TO SUNSHINE: WHY SHOULD WE?
The ‘POP UP CITY’ program responds to “the changing needs found in underused urban environments” (CUDC 2014), which can be applied to many open areas and unused spaces in Sunshine (figure 4) All events and interventions have been created in response to a different aim or goal each time Different types of projects carried out have a different range of space size and various durations of time, making it a flexible program to tailor to different aims and needs of the changing suburb (Sandercock 2003)
Targeted interventions are in response to specific community concerns Looks to create amenities for all residents so there is maximum social interaction Locations are flexible, which means it can be implemented near the train station where many people use public transport as their mode of transport The ‘POP UP CITY’ idea allows for short term intervention as an alternative option infeasible permanent developments Short term things can create awareness of issues and problems, and can lead to permanent change
Sunshine is a suburb that offers opportunities for
Creating more accessible places Creating safer places to be 24/7 Especially during the night (compare figure 5 & 6) Creating stronger & better social community ties Giving people a reason to stay in the area for longer and connect to others 36% of users visit daily and 44% visit on a weekly basis (figure 8) Only 44% stay at the precinct for more than an hour (figure 9) Taking advantage of the multicultural population (Fincher & Iveson 2008) and catering for all 55% of surveyed were not Australian born (figure 7) Building a partnership and understanding of different cultures (Landry 2000) Creating unity Only 18% of users in Sunshine visit the precinct to socialize (figure 11) Changing the image of the suburb Erasing pre misconceptions and negative connotations of Sunshine
Figure 11: Reasons for visiting Sunshine’s Station Precinct. Source: Fieldwork data.
Figure 3: BRIDGE MIX (2008). Source: http://www.cudc.kent.edu/pop_up_city/.
THE BARRIERS / MODIFICATIONS NEEDED
Most of these events and projects require financial support from sponsors (which could give sponsors an opportunity to advertise and advocate) Different uses of different areas at different times of the day means that a lot of planning is to go into it before any one intervention can be carried out Keep in mind that Cleveland looked at a larger scale in terms of their planned interventions and were very successful due to the amount of community support
A BIG TICK? Though there are some implications to transferring the ‘POP UP CITY’ idea to Sunshine, it is still an idea that is both feasible and realistic. If interventions were to begin at a much smaller scale, not only would funding and costs be lowered significantly, it would also start to attract attention from the population of Sunshine. Testing out the outcomes and reactions of residents initially through smaller events and installations could result in the scale of interventions expanding, marking the beginning of a program that could lead to success in the future.
Figure 5: Safety in Sunshine during the day.
Figure 6: Safety in Sunshine at night.
Figure 7: Demographic of Sunshine.
Source: Fieldwork data.
Source: Fieldwork data.
Source: Fieldwork data.
Figure 8: Visits to Sunshine.
Figure 9: Duration of stay.
Source: Fieldwork data.
Source: Fieldwork data.
References ABPL200035 Cities: From Local To Global Fieldwork Data from 10th & 11th April 2014, The University of Melbourne, Parkville. Brimbank City Council 2012, Sunshine Town Centre Structure Plan. Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) 2014, Kent State University, Cleveland, viewed 26 May 2014, <http://www.cudc.kent.edu/ pop_up_city/>.
. Figure 10: Opinion on improvements. Source: Fieldwork data.
Disney 1997, Mary Poppins Silhouette, viewed 2 June 2014, <http://wondersofdisney2.yolasite.com/poppins.php>. Fincher, R & Iveson, K 2008, ‘Conceptualizing Encounter in Cities’, Chapter 6 in Planning and Diversity in the City: redistribution, recognition and encounter, New York: Palgrave, pp. 145-170.
Note: Figures 5 – 11 are graphs which have used the data collected from the 868 street surveys between the 10 th and 11th of April, 2014 by the cohort of ABPL20035 students. These results are not indicative of the whole population of Sunshine (just a sample of people).
Harvey, D 2003, ‘The Right to the City’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 939-941. Landry, C 2000, ‘Rediscovering Urban Creativity: why are some cities successful?’ Chapter 1 in The Creative City: a toolkit for urban innovators, London: Earthscan, pp. 3-19.
Sandercock, L 2003, ‘Transformative Planning Practices: how and why cities change,’ Chapter 7 in Cosmopolis 2: Mongrel Cities in the 21st Century, London: Continuum, pp. 157-180. Spontaneous Interventions 2012, U.S. Pavilion 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale, USA, viewed 26 May, 2014, <http:// www.spontaneousinterventions.org/project/pop-up-city>.