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Panel 7: Urban transformation and ground floor vacancy
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| Session Abstract | |
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Vacancies represent both a challenge and potential for cities, depending on various factors such as their location within the urban context. This panel focuses on vacancy in the ground floor zone. The usage, non-usage, as well as the misusage of ground floor spaces directly contribute to the vitality of neighbourhoods. Thus, viably used ground floor spaces are integral for the implementation of planning concepts like the 15-minute city. On the one hand, property owners are key stakeholders in the activation of vacant spaces and the future-oriented transformation of the ground floor zone. On the other hand, new user groups emerge due to societal shifts such as the declining importance of (large) physical retail spaces. Micro-enterprises, associations, cultural actors and local initiatives are becoming increasingly prevalent. As recent surveys in Vienna and Graz show, they urgently need (affordable) space. Some of their usage models (e. g. cooperatively used spaces) differ from the traditional ground floor usages, which poses further challenges (e. g. subleasing, funding schemes excluding specific user groups). Developing strategies for dealing with the ground floor zone is therefore an essential challenge that urban planners have to face in terms of working towards future-oriented neighbourhoods. This session invites contributions dealing with ground floor vacancy especially within (but not limited to) the following topics: - Funding, instruments, processes and specific measures that enable structural changes / paradigm shifts in dealing with vacancy on the ground floor - Availability of spaces in the ground floor zone - Affordability of spaces in the ground floor zone (high rental and activation costs vs. low financial resources on the user side) - Dealing with ground floor vacancy in different spatial contexts (international examples) - Misusage, market-driven usage, gentrification vs. usage which generates positive impacts on neighbourhoods - Implementing socially beneficial projects - instruments, processes, measures or funding to enable community / non-profit purposes - Contribution of low-threshold “quick wins” (e. g. temporary usage) towards the transition into long-term tenancy | |
| Presentations | |
Contemporary Art as a Tool for Spatial Resistance: Three European Grassroots Initiatives Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon This research examines grassroots cultural initiatives as forms of spatial resistance in tourism-driven development, through the examination of three European case studies: Galeria e Bregdetit (Albania), Largo Residências (Lisbon), and Brunnenpassage (Vienna). These grassroots organizations demonstrate how contemporary art and participatory cultural practices can challenge the possible homogenizing effects of tourism while allowing for more inclusive forms of contemporary cultural creation. Drawing from frameworks of critical spatial practice and collaborative artistic processes, we position these initiatives as interventions that can reconfigure spatial politics and empower local communities through creative co-production and identity creation. Each case demonstrates distinct strategies of spatial resistance that respond to specific local challenges, but which together provide a panorama of complementary approaches when thinking of creative tourism as potential spaces of resistance. In Albania, Galeria e Bregdetit (En: the Gallery of the Coast) challenges perceptions of the southern coastal region as solely a trendy tourist destination, using contemporary art to initiate critical discussions about territorial transformation on the multifaceted historical sites like Sazan Island, through the use guerilla artistic interventions on a landscape characterized by overlapping histories and clashing bureaucratic authorities. Lisbon's Largo Residências operates through cooperative economic initiatives that maintain community-controlled spaces amid tourism-driven gentrification, establishing cultural third places where commercial, social, and artistic functions coexist. Vienna's Brunnenpassage deliberately challenges cultural hierarchies in Ottakring district by positioning migrant communities as cultural producers rather than subjects, using participatory methodologies to redefine the district's cultural landscape through a post-migrant approach to cultural production, and through regular collaborations with the established cultural behemoths of the city. These cases illustrate how cultural initiatives can engage with tourism economies while resisting their extractive tendencies. Their practices – repurposing neglected spaces, developing alternative economic models, preserving cultural heritage, and building community engagement – demonstrate that creative tourism can function as a form of "caring for the city" when it prioritizes social inclusion, local agency, and cultural diversity. This research contributes to understanding how art-based interventions can build urban resilience by transforming tourism development into a vehicle for community empowerment rather than displacement. Gemeinwohlorientierte Liegenschaftspolitik - Das M26 als Sorgende Urbane Infrastruktur Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien Das M26 in Regensburg (Deutschland, https://m26kultur.org/) dient als Fallbeispiel für die Erforschung Sorgender Urbaner Infrastrukturen im Kontext gemeinwohlorientierter städtischer und kommunaler Liegenschaftspolitik. Als temporäre Zwischennutzung inmitten der Regensburger Innenstadt wurde das M26 im Jahr 2022 von der Stadtverwaltung als Pilotprojekt initiiert. Es umfasst ein vielfältiges Kulturprogramm, ein Community-Café sowie flexibel nutzbare Räumlichkeiten. In dieser Funktion fungiert es als sozialräumlicher Knotenpunkt für eine heterogene Stadtgesellschaft und soziales Engagement. Die Erdgeschosslage gewährleistet hierbei niedrigschwellige Zugänglichkeit und hohe Sichtbarkeit. Angesichts multipler urbaner und gesellschaftlicher Krisen rückt die Frage in den Fokus, wie städtische Räume dazu beitragen können, urbane Praktiken der Sorge (Care) zu ermöglichen und nachhaltig zu verstetigen. Die vorliegende Untersuchung analysiert die Konzeption und Implementierung Sorgender Urbaner Infrastrukturen, indem theoretische Ansätze der Care Ethics, wie Maintenance, Interdependenz und Solidarität, mit empirischen Erkenntnissen aus der Praxis des M26 verknüpft werden. Die daraus resultierenden Implikationen sind nicht nur für das Fallbeispiel selbst von Relevanz, sondern liefern übertragbare Erkenntnisse für gemeinwohlorientierte Stadtentwicklungsprozesse. Im Rahmen der Analyse werden zentrale Dimensionen einer Sorgenden Urbanen Infrastruktur identifiziert und deren Entwicklung im Kontext städtische und kommunaler Leerstände diskutiert:
Die Synthese aus Care Ethics und praxisnahen Erkenntnissen biete neue Perspektiven auf urbane Transformationsprozesse, die Sorge(arbeit) in den Mittelpunkt rücken. Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass Sorgende Urbane Infrastrukturen eine zentrale Rolle für eine resiliente, inklusive und sozial gerechte Stadtentwicklung spielen. Neben der Förderung kultureller und sozialer Teilhabe können sie als Katalysatoren für lokale Vernetzung und Gemeinwohlorientierung dienen. Besonders städtische und kommunale Liegenschaften, insbesondere in Erdgeschosslagen, bieten hierfür ein erhebliches Potenzial. Activating vacancies in rural areas: impulses from Upper Austria Modul5 GmbH, Austria The revitalisation of vacant properties is a key challenge in rural communities. In our article, we highlight our experiences and impressions gained as part of the state-wide funding programme ‘Concept development for the activation of vacant properties and the development of town and village centres’ in Upper Austria. Together with an architectural office, we identified and surveyed about 590 vacant properties in ten regions with 64 municipalities. For the structured development and realisation of uses for vacant buildings, various criteria and framework conditions must be taken into account, such as their individual architectural quality, their significance for the identity of the location, the building fabric and the adaptability and location of the buildings in the town. The owners play a key role in the activation of vacant properties. They are the key stakeholders who need to be actively informed about the ongoing activities in their municipality/region, convinced of the (overall social) benefits of revitalising their buildings and ultimately motivated to actually tackle the refurbishment and revitalisation. When activating vacant properties, however, it is not only the structural revitalisation that plays a role, but also the creation of an attractive environment that strengthens the identity of the location, promotes cultural value creation and transforms the town centre into a social meeting place. The programme we are presenting in Upper Austria therefore takes a holistic approach that also deals with the content and concept of public spaces that form the spatial and structural context of the vacant properties. Here, the focus moves away from the owners and relies on the active participation of other local stakeholders in the concept development. Our contribution incorporates our practical experience into the debate on urban transformation and shows how vacancy activation in rural areas can be realised through cooperation between the public sector, municipalities, planners and owners. We are convinced that the findings of this project will provide lessons for cities and municipalities of all sizes and locations in Austria. | |