Source: Impact Design Hub

By: John Bela

The use of the temporary, or what is now coined as “pop-up,” has proven to be a useful tactic for impacting the fabric of urban growth and development. John Bela, founder and principal of the highly influential Rebar studios, likes to call this “Iterative Placemaking.” In the wake of Rebar evolving from an informal art collective into a professional art and design practice, Bela shares his thoughts on the controversy around temporality in urban space.

There is a fervent debate happening at the moment about tactical urbanism and its relationship to social equity. As a veteran practitioner of tactics, I’m also curious about their potential to catalyze long-term urban transformation and institutional change.

Bela explains his own process of moving from guerilla interventions to long term urban design. The questions he proposes on this subject begins to reveal a larger dialogue about equity and the role of both bureaucrats and designers on ensuring that public resources are shared equitably across a city. The full article by John Bela can be read on 100 Resilient Cities here.