What Do Pop-Up Shops and Homelessness Reveal About Urban Land Use?

On the land use spectrum, pop-up shops and homelessness operate at very different ends and from disparate positions of power. Ann Deslandes investigates the commonalities that bind them.

1 minute read

February 16, 2012, 12:00 PM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj

Sanctioned and celebrated, DIY (do-it-yourself) Urbanism such as pop-up shops and temporary studios are a response to the scarcity of accessible urban space. As is homelessness.

According to Deslandes, "DIY urbanists respond to the scarcity of urban space by opening it up to culture, community and the grassroots economy. The primary homeless demonstrate the scarcity of housing, social services and community resources in urban space by appearing in that space and using it for shelter and other necessities. So, whilst DIY urbanists and the primary homeless are responding to scarcity in very different orders, they share a reliance on marginal urban space."

Without providing solutions, Deslandes points out the relationship merely to bring it to the attention of those who control the means to address, "the conditions for achievement in an aggressively unequal society."

FULL STORY: What do pop-up shops and homelessness have in common?

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 in The Global Urbanist

Land Use Social / Demographics World Homelessness DIY Urbanism Class Power View More

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