Ephemeral City - Planning Principles of Temporary Urban Structures

In contrast to the prevailing permanent urban structures, the phenomenon of temporary settlements is often overlooked in urban planning and architecture. Therefore this study aims to highlight the significance of these structures, including music festivals, religious gatherings, markets, emergency shelters, refugee camps, and major sporting events. By analysing these phenomena, we create a better understanding of ephemeral structures in our built environment.

This research seminar is based on the contribution ´Ephemeral Urbanism: Cities in Constant Flux´ at the 15th Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2016 and the publication ´Ephemeral Urbanism: Does Permanence Matter?´ in 2020 by Rahul Mehrotra and Felipe Vera. Building on these conceptual and theoretical foundations the aim of this research project is to open up new thematic areas and to expand the already published material with further case studies and new findings.

This publication presents the work of six student teams who have chosen individual overarching themes within the framework of the ephemeral city and analysed it in depth through three case studies each. The results can be roughly divided into two groups: The first three studies concentrate on temporary urban phenomena associated with sport, leisure, and culture. ... mehrThey operate in the context of positively associated events and voluntary participation. On the other hand, the three contributions in the second part focus on aspects of the ephemeral city that arise from emergencies, such as informal squatting in existing buildings and various examples of refugee camps.