🎉 Paper published: Urban temporary housing environments—from a systematic comparison towards an integrated typology

Our research results have been published recently in the Journal of Housing and the Built Environment. The entire team collected examples of temporary housing environments that fed a detailed database. We conducted a systematic comparison via tabulation (table work), in an interdisciplinary manner considering details regarding built structure, open spaces, area, infrastructure, organizational and socio-economic aspects. The analysis led to a detailed typology of temporary housing environments that is universally applicable, independently from the housing environment’s background.

This study aims to create a general understanding of temporary housing and its attempt to create a general terminology provides the possibility to those engaged in the field to communicate and learn from each other.

The article from Mirjam Stocker, Gerda Schneider, Julia Zeilinger, Gloria Rose, Doris Damyanovic and Marion Huber‑Humer can be read online and downloaded here:

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10901-020-09812-x.pdf

Typology of urban temporary housing environments
Typology of urban temporary housing environments

🎉 Paper published: Fundamentals of Building Deconstruction as a Circular Economy Strategy for the Reuse of Construction Materials

Five of our project members submitted a paper to the Journal “Applied Science” that got published in the special issue “Sustainable and Durable Building Materials”. In this article, Gaetano Bertino, Johannes Kisser, Julia Zeilinger, Tatjana Fischer, Guenter Langergraber and Doris Österreicher analyzed building deconstructability, intended as the selective dismantlement of building components, in prevision of a future reuse, repurposing, or recycling, in alternative to common demolition. The purpose of this research work is to analyze the deconstruction potential of buildings and the strategies to apply in order to keep the impacts on the urban environment low. The article aims to facilitate the implementation of circular economy strategies for buildings by proposing common principles for deconstruction as a sustainable alternative to demolition and defining the key points to be applied during the design and planning process regardless of the type of construction system or material used.

Rigid frame building scheme (drawing by G.B.).
Rigid frame building scheme (drawing by G.B.).

Follow this link to read the publication.

Follow this link to download the pdf.

Keywords: building deconstruction; building deconstructability; design for deconstruction; end-of-life material recovery; material reuse; sustainable construction; building circularity; building lifecycle

This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Citation: Bertino, G.; Kisser, J.; Zeilinger, J.; Langergraber, G.; Fischer, T.; Österreicher, D. Fundamentals of Building Deconstruction as a Circular Economy Strategy for the Reuse of Construction Materials. Applied Sciences 2021, 11, 939, doi:10.3390/app11030939

Online Workshop on Strategies for Urban Temporary Housing

Our second stakeholder workshop was held on November 5th, 2020. The workshop was planned to take place in May 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19 and was finally held in an online setting. Nevertheless, it was possible to create an interactive event with the participation of numerous experts from the fields of architecture, sustainability, disaster research, city administration, and neighborhood management, among others.

In the workshop, we had the opportunity to present preliminary results of our temporary housing research and receive valuable feedback and input from the participants. The main focus of the second workshop was on the current role of temporary housing in the urban planning concepts and general strategic papers of the City of Vienna. The discussions were moderated by Tatjana Fischer (Institute of Spatial Planning), André Gaszó, and Gloria Rose (Institute of Technology Assessment). A lively exchange emerged on stimulating and inhibiting factors for (future) strategies on temporary housing. The insights gained from the second stakeholder workshop will be integrated in our further research. We thank the experts for their active participation!

Pop-up Environments @ BEYOND 2020 World Sustainable Built Environment Conference, Nov. 2nd-4th, 2020

Tuesday 1st January 2030 is the deadline for the “construction sector” to contribute to the fulfillment of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). But how can the building sector contribute towards the creation of Sustainable Cities and Communities of the future? What challenges and opportunities result for the building sector from implementing the SDGs?

The BEYOND2020 World Sustainable Built Environment Conference, organized by the Chalmers University of Technology from November 2nd-4th, aimed to create clear links between the most relevant SDGs and the built environment, with the focus on achieving SDG11, “Sustainable cities and communities” by the 2030 deadline. BEYOND 2020 embraced a global perspective that reaches across academia as well as private and public sectors, working together to develop concrete solutions and achievable implementation plans, incorporating research, policy, finance, education and innovative thinking, in order to create the resilient and sustainable built environments of tomorrow.

In this context, on November 2nd Gaetano Bertino presented “Temporary urban environments – framework conditions and solutions for sustainable short-term pop-up living systems” with the aim of showing how the use of temporary pop-up environments can represent a solution to some of the problems that characterize the modern city. By presenting international case studies, it was possible to define the sustainable aspects and the low environmental impact of temporary strategies. By suggesting their use in cases where urban planning fails to propose adequate solutions, a temporary approach based on circular strategies, such as the reuse of components and constructive reversibility, could contribute to the creation of sustainable cities and communities of the future.

Geatano Poster BEYOND 2020
Poster on Temporary urban environments – Framework conditions and solutions for sustainable short-term pop-up living systems

We are happy to announce that the poster has won the conference’s Best Poster Award. 🏅

Cooperation with TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology)

Video Design Studio
Video Design Studio © Design Studio Pop-Up Shelter @ Youtube

After the successful cooperation in the winter semester 2019/20, we were able to continue the partnership with the TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology)/JASEC (Japan Austria Science Exchange Center) in the summer semester 2020. Students of the design class ‘Großes Entwerfen’ could choose from three scenarios to develop a model and visualize it with a 3D software.

The three scenarios are:

‘Life on track(s)’ is a concept in which living space is provided in wagons on tracks. The wagons can be moved rapidly from one site to another without organization of additional carriers. In this manner, a large number of temporary housing units can be transported and placed within a short period of time. Four different designs were developed for Life on track(s) (by Johanna Huber, Felix Neudeck and Konstantin Werni, Livia Karner, Goekcan Celik).

In the scenario ‘Shop-hopping Box’ (ShoHoBo) the continuing high vacancy rates for ground-floor retail spaces are taken as a starting point to create temporary living rooms. To make better use of the available built environment of the city, these vacancies can be temporarily appropriated as living spaces until another retailer moves in. The architectural challenge is to make the best use of the existing building structure while still providing good residential quality. Structural adjustments, therefore, have to be envisaged either as reversible, easily removable or to be implemented within the course of renovation or maintenance activities of the retail spaces. Six students (Masayuki Fukui, Rachael Verdugo and David Egido, Meryl Barthe, Magdalena Czarnowska and Dokyun Jung) developed four different designs for ‘Shop-hopping Box’.

The scenario of the ‘DonAutonom’ concept involves the use and redesign of old Danube ships (e.g. old cargo ships) that can be purchased, with the idea of ​​being anchored on the Danube to offer a short-term home for different types of user groups. The strength of this concept is the potential of a high degree of autonomy or self-sufficiency in the use of resources. Three different designs (by Cleo Sophie Traub, Mila Mihaylova and Sandra Prieto, Victor Zugmayer-Preleitner) were developed for this scenario.

The TU-course was lead by Iris Mach and Thomas Rief.

We thank all participants for their commitment and great work!

Click here to watch the video showing insights of all designs

🎉 Paper published: Framework Conditions and Strategies for Pop-Up Environments in Urban Planning

A paper of 5 of our project members recently got published in Sustainability’s special issue “Urban Planning and Social Well-being“: Framework Conditions and Strategies for Pop-Up Environments in Urban Planning by Gaetano Bertino, Tatjana Fischer, Gustav Puhr, Guenter Langergraber and Doris Österreicher

The purpose of this research work is to outline the general requirements of pop-up environments in urban developments that allow for adequate integration into urban planning strategies. Based on an extensive evaluation of the existing literature and a series of case studies, the paper analyzes the key elements that define the framework conditions of urban planning strategies for temporary developments that generate a positive impact on the overall urban system.

Follow this link to read the publication.

Follow this link to download the pdf.

Abstract: Urban strategies and the way cities are planned have changed throughout history, adapting to the needs of the inhabitants, infrastructure requirements, and advances in technology. Uses and customs of people and cities are changing and can evolve much faster than in the past, with the result that urban planning is often too slow to adequately meet the current needs of society. In this context, the development of pop-up environments for temporary developments could be a solution to meet the needs of flexibility, adaptation, and resilience of a city. This allows the urban planner to consider systems from a short-term perspective, fulfilling current needs without compromising the development of potentially different activities in the future. The purpose of this research work is to outline the general requirements of pop-up environments in urban developments that allow for adequate integration into urban planning strategies. Based on an extensive evaluation of the existing literature and a series of case studies, the paper analyzes the key elements that define the framework conditions of urban planning strategies for temporary developments that generate a positive impact on the overall urban system.

Keywords: pop-up environment; temporary architecture; pop-up housing; temporary use; temporary strategies for urban planning; sustainable planning; urban planning

This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

MDPI and ACS Style

Bertino, G.; Fischer, T.; Puhr, G.; Langergraber, G.; Österreicher, D. Framework Conditions and Strategies for Pop-Up Environments in Urban Planning. Sustainability 201911, 7204.

Pop-up Environments @ AESOP Konferenz Juli 2019 in Venedig

TemporĂ€re Nutzungen und Wohnformen beschĂ€ftigen in zunehmendem Maß auch die Raum- und Stadtplanung. Dieser Umstand zeigte sich auch auf dem diesjĂ€hrigen AESOP Kongress, welcher von 9. bis 13. Juli bezeichnenderweise in Venedig stattfand und unter dem Motto “Planning for Transition” sich ganz besonders dem Umgang der StĂ€dte mit neuen und alten Herausforderungen widmete. Das Akronym AESOP steht fĂŒr “Association of European Schools of Planning”, einem großen Netzwerk europĂ€ischer UniversitĂ€ten mit StudiengĂ€ngen der rĂ€umlichen Planung, zu denen auch die BOKU Wien gehört. “Pop-Up Environments” wurde von Projektmitarbeiter Gustav Puhr (Institut fĂŒr Raumplanung, Umweltplanung und Bodenordnung) im Rahmen der Session “Housing, gentrification and socio-spatial dynamics” vorgestellt. Im der anschließenden Diskussion gaben WissenschaftlerInnen und PlanerInnen aus verschiedenen LĂ€ndern wertvolle Inputs zum Thema temporĂ€res Wohnen. Unter anderem kamen die Wichtigkeit von Leerstandserhebungen und die Förderung des kritischen Diskurses ĂŒber temporĂ€re Wohnformen zur Sprache. Bei vielen Punkten
wurde dabei erneut eine gewisse Sonderstellung Wiens deutlich, welche z.B. auf dem großen Anteil des sozialen Wohnens fußt.

Eine Sammlung von Kurzfassungen aller BeitrĂ€ge (in Englisch) der AESOP 2019 ist ĂŒber folgenden Link abrufbar:
https://www.aesop2019.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/AESOP-BOOK-OF-ABSTRACTS-2019.pdf

Pop-up Environments @ Sustainable Geography – 8th Nordic Geographers Meeting in Trondheim, Norway, June 2019

Over 600 people from all over the world attended the NGM2019 to exchange ideas regarding sustainable development within and beyond the discipline of geography. Within the session “Urban Innovation and the Rise of Projects, Platforms, and Testbeds”, the Pop-Up Housing project was introduced to the community through a presentation by Gloria Rose and Michael Ornetzeder, titled “Temporary housing projects as experimental niches for sustainable innovation”. Various existing niche concepts and observable forms of temporary living environments were compared with the aim of recognizing sensible interlinkages. Additionally, empirical examples of innovative spaces and temporary housing contexts where learning processes are currently taking place in Vienna were presented.

Meeting’s brochure and program

Abstract (page 3)

Cityscape - Buildings by the sea
Cityscape of Trondheim © Gloria Rose

Pop-up Environments @ Paradigmatic City Conference, May 2019 in Istanbul

Project team member Mirjam Stocker (Institute of Landscape planning) attended the The Paradigmatic City Conference that was held in Istanbul from May 8th to 10th, 2019.  Transforming Cities was the focus of this year’s conference and an opportune occasion to present our (pop-up housing) project. She presented the project and preliminary results, summarized by her and Gerda Schneider, in the session ‘Urbanization and future cities’. The participation of scholars of very different disciplines led to interesting and enriching discussions. Especially interesting for our project were contributions such as on Boox: A framework for container settlements (Belinda Torus, Asena Kumsal ƞen Bayram, Oğuz Orkun Doma, Sinan Mert ƞener) and on The “new” inhabitant of the city: changing urban dynamics in Gaziantep, Turkey (Pınar Karababa Kayagil).
The participation of Mirjam was kindly facilitated by a travel grant of BOKU’s Equal Opportunities Working Party (Arbeitskreis fĂŒr Gleichbehandlungsfragen (AKGL)).

Conference card of Project team member
The paradigmatic City – Transforming Cities

First quarterly meeting

On July 18th the project team came together for the first quarterly meeting: we worked on formulating our vision, the Juniors presented their progress on administrative and scientific tasks, we discussed paper publishing options and further steps.