Knowledge

Dortmunder U and Union Quarter - The Role of Meanwhile Uses in Urban Regeneration

Alejandra Castro and Eva Wascher (TU Dortmund University)

Keywords: Temporary Use, Urban Regeneration, Meanwhile Use

The temporalities of urban regeneration masterplans lend themselves to the possibility of innovation. This is a characteristic that has become apparent as growing bodies of literature document the potential and impact of ‘the meanwhile’ in urban regeneration. The EU project T-Factor aims at showcasing how cities are collaborating to transfer the knowledge generated after the implementation of meanwhile uses in urban regeneration masterplans. T-Factor concerns itself with unleashing the potential of meanwhile spaces to create thriving, sustainable urban areas by creating and prototyping uses and functions where all stakeholders: governments, development, academia, business, grassroots organisations, and citizens can come together in a collaborative effort.

This report is the result of one of the initial knowledge mining stages of the T-Factor project in which advance case study cities, that is, cities that have already been through an urban regeneration masterplan, recollect their experiences and knowledge in an attempt to transfer their learned lessons in a pragmatic, applicable way for a series of pilot cities which are undergoing transformation themselves.

This Working Paper introduces the case of Dortmund, namely that of the Rheinische Straße urban regeneration and the Dortmunder U. It does this by presenting a comprehensive overview of the context, chronology, stakeholders, results impacts, and critical elements pertaining to each of the meanwhile uses that occurred during the urban regeneration. This overview is cemented primarily in an extensive literary documentation and the interviewing of stakeholders.

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