DRS2012 Bangkok Proceedings Vol 4 - Design Research Society

DRS 2012 Bangkok
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Thailand, 1–4 July 2012
Making Sense of Interventions in Public
Places as Drivers of Urban Renewal
Sandra Viña
Aalto University
Abstract
The aim of this paper is above all to discuss urban renewal through
interventions and experiments in public city places. The conceptual
framework builds on how and why people appropriate urban places, and
illustrates the impact of consensual and dissensual interventions in everyday
city life. The paper starts by providing a brief literature review of the
standpoints of urban renewal, and states some current problems about the
utilization of the city.
I will present a typology of interventions in urban public places, which
illustrates different interventions in a table. The vertical axis of the table
illustrates on one side consensual interventions created by the public and
private sector; while the other side shows dissensual intervention created by
individuals and groups of people. The horizontal axis of the table illustrates
three approaches: dialogical, participative and reflective. Each indicates
the character of the intervention. I then introduced the notion of urban
interventions and explain through various examples the meanings and goals
of the following interventions: financial and commercial; cultural and
artistic; recreational; political, and, design intervention.
The relevance of interventions within the framework of urban renewal
resides on the way temporal actions cause a significant change in everyday
city places; in the experiences and interactions of people; in the notion of
appropriation of spaces; and on the innovative uses people give to places.
Interventions have shed light to their potential to generate new places,
experiences, and services; support the image of a place, and above all, look
into new paradigms. Interventionists are, above all, creative and
imaginative people that interrupt, whether with or without consent, the
monotonous city life. Interventions in public places help to recover and
revitalize the city in great dimensions; cultural, social, economical and
environmental.
Keywords: interventions, design, public places, participation
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