URBAN INSTALLATIONS AND GATHERING POINTS
The Working Group 03 focuses on gathering theoretical, historical and ongoing research on the theme related to urban installations and gathering points. The aim is to compile information, map case studies and create a database of solutions. Analyses of these data will be used to draw conclusions. To accomplish these tasks, WG 03 members have decided to form three sub-groups focusing on different aspects, in order to cover the broad spectrum of this theme. This presentation provides an overview of the work carried out during the first year of the CIRCUL'ARTs Action.
Authors
Agata Pięt and Isabel Carvalho
SUBGROUP 01
Decolonizing urban interventions
It is at the core of the CIRCUL'ARTs to develop decolonizing strategies enabling innovative methodologies for urban circularity that in themselves are sustainable and circular. This requires first and foremost a decolonization of mainstream dominant Eurocentric understandings of sustainability. Hence, this subgroup reviews and discusses theories of decoloniality to develop a theoretical framework and principles of decolonial social interventions in urban spaces and places accommodating and fostering socially sustainable urban ecosystems of pluriversal inclusivity preventing eco-social extractivism.
Author
Marta Padovan-Özdemir
SUBGROUP 02
Intermittent Practices / Temporary Uses / Tactical Urbanism
This sub-group aims to gather data on various typologies and practices in public space that have temporary and intermittent character. These can comprise structures but also art installations or events which might have been constructed as a result of public private partnerships or citizen and community participation. The core element under analysis is the flexibility of urban space and of the solutions proposed, as well as the ability of that space to be transformed in a circular way and respond to different needs of its users. Additionally, investigating the urban context of the sites where the installations are located might be useful.
Author
Agata Pięt
SUBGROUP 03
Diversity and Inclusion through Art, Activism, and Socially Engaged Practices
This sub-group focuses on collecting data on activist artistic practices that promote diversity and inclusion. It compiles and analyzes a database of recent work, collects names and projects of architects, artists, philosophers, theorists, activists and others who use creative strategies to promote inclusive and participatory spaces. The initial focus is on co-creation methodologies and critical pedagogy that drive these socially sustainable urban intervention practices. This sub-group aims to contribute to the discussion on how art and activism intersect with sustainability and circularity, addressing both material and socio-cultural dimensions.
Author
Isabel Cristina Carvalho
ON TEMPORARY USES AND COMMUNITIES: THE T-FACTOR PROJECT IN TRAFARIA
For the 1st STATION of CIRCUL´ARTS COST ACTION, I propose to present and discuss T-FACTOR – Participatory Futures, an international project I contributed to as a researcher and curator, focusing on Trafaria (Lisbon) as case study.
Funded by the European Union´s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and developed between June 2020 and May 2024, T-FACTOR explored the transformative potential of temporary uses in urban regeneration. The project brought together 26 partners – including municipalities, universities, local stakeholders and grassroots communities – focusing on creative collaborations and public engagement to foster social innovation, sustainability and inclusion.
T-FACTOR operated across diverse contexts, with insights from eight “Advanced Cases” – located in London, New York, Dortmund, Lodz, Shanghai, Marseille, Barcelona and Florence – and six emergent cases – the “Local Pilots”, located in Bilbao, Amsterdam, Kaunas, Milan, London and Lisbon.
In Lisbon, the pilot site was Trafaria – an old village on the south bank of the Tagus River, historically shaped by fishing and the local community's deep connection to water. The project focused on revitalizing a 16th-century building – once a quarantine facility, then a defensive fort, and later a prison – into an educational hub of arts and technology.
In the scope of T-FACTOR project, local initiatives engaged heritage and communities, activating Trafaria's layered identities to inspire renewal. Drawing from that experience, this presentation will address some of the initiatives that forged connections between communities and generations and that, although temporary, contributed to strengthen a sense of belonging and to affirm the area's potential for future regeneration.
Author
Margarida Brito Alves
GREENERY FOR CIRCUL'ARTS
Greenery as a natural element plays a crucial role in the circularity of the space in urban contexts, thus the aim of the presentation is to focus on diversity of urban installations - examples combining greenery with art to promote a sustainable approach, and to show the impact of nature in shaping circular public spaces and sustainable communities. The sustainable approaches and practices will be presented as created by and for urban communities to draw attention and educate about circularity. The main idea, based on my research as a landscape architect, is to focus on 4 main linked together aspects: greenery-art.-sustainability-people. Solutions that affect the ability of space to transform in a circular way and respond to the different needs of its users will include examples of adaptation of 'hard' elements in the city to more sustainable through plants: flower beds arranged in diverse spatial situations, street advertising with plants, transformation of urban furniture towards green eco-installations, parklets using recycled materials, green art installations, green walls (vertical gardens), green roofs, but also indirect use of plants in art activities such as street art and murals with ecological message. Main discussion will include the identification of the 4 above-mentioned aspects in each example: the role of greenery and the scale of its participation, art perceived as various forms of artistic activities and elements (obvious / direct, subtexts, suggestions / associations), sustainability (education through the use of natural elements, sustainable materials and practices, recycling) and community (creating installations by people and for people). Benefits of the transformation of 'hard' elements through greenery in connection with artistic practices are related to the increase of the quality and attractiveness of public spaces and their ecological resilience, creating common space for people, activating communities for a dialogue, and increasing their awareness about the positive impact of sustainability on people and cities. This approach meets the main objectives of WG 03 of COST Action CA 23117 CIRCULARTS.
Author
Kinga Kimic
INTERMITTENT CITY; DEVELOPING MICRO-LABORATORIES OF COEXISTENCE IN THE AGE OF ADAPTATION
Intermittent City is a Lisbon-based research and action platform developed by a multidisciplinary team, aligned with the core themes of WG3. After three years of activity, it aims to develop and scale up the concept of micro-laboratories of coexistence: intermittent urban installations that help cities adapt to environmental, social, and technological transitions—especially in contexts of climate crisis, social instability, and spatial inequality.
Positioned between permanence and ephemerality, crisis and regeneration, these laboratories will operate through four interconnected axes:
(i) Plural Intelligence: combining natural (ecosystems), artificial (digital tools), and collective (community) knowledge in design processes;
(ii) Distributed Authorship and Transdisciplinary Collaboration: designers act as facilitators within non-hierarchical networks involving architects, scientists, artists, citizens, and activists, co-creating situated responses;
(iii) Circular Strategies: each laboratory acts as a seed for an adaptive urban ecosystem, promoting cycles of material and social regeneration;
(iv) Relational Structures: these spaces foster inclusion, openness, and coexistence in uncertain times, serving as platforms for experimentation and intergenerational learning.
By exploring intersecting paths with the COST Action, the proposed presentation aims to contribute to both theoretical and practical agendas by offering transferable methodologies and light governance tools that address climate and social urgency. It suggests a model that bridges local experimentation and broader European collaboration—not merely by documenting practices, but by introducing adaptable formats and co-design strategies. Finally, it seeks to frame adaptive urbanism as both a critical pedagogy and a design tool in the age of adaptation.
Author
Rita Ochoa
TACTICAL URBANISM AND PLACEMAKING: COMMUNITY-LED URBAN INSTALLATION METHODOLOGIES
This presentation contributes to WG3's objective of mapping creative, collective urban interventions by focusing on placemaking and tactical urbanism methodologies developed in primarily in South America. It highlights temporary, low-cost, and community-driven installations aimed at revitalizing underused urban spaces, promoting social inclusion, and offering alternative forms of governance through citizen participation.
The central aim is to explore a variety of tools used in these urban interventions, while also addressing the core principles that underpin them. The methodology is framed as a process—place-led and community-based—that emphasizes local engagement and context-specific solutions.
Drawing from field experiences with tactical and semi-permanent interventions in Chile and Peru, as well as community-led events such as the Play Ames Festival in the United States, the presentation examines how ephemeral actions can generate both immediate functional benefits and long-term transformations in how communities occupy and co-manage public space.
Across these contexts, several key challenges have emerged, including the fragile nature of temporary installations, limited institutional backing, and resistance from formal planning systems. In response, initiatives have employed cross-sector collaborations, participatory design-build workshops, and the strategic use of recycled or low-impact materials to foster circularity and resilience.
This presentation offers a critical reflection on how these interventions address spatial and social inequities, strengthen grassroots governance, and generate lasting cultural value—despite their temporary character. It will also propose actionable insights and tools to support the integration of such approaches into broader urban policy frameworks, aligning with WG3’s mission to connect artistic practice, social innovation, and urban governance.
Author
Stella Schroeder
