Claiming participation – a comparative analysis of DIY urbanism in Denmark

Abstract

The article discuss the conflicts, potentials and possible alliances of do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism when it takes the form of spontaneous place appropriations, when it is performed as participatory urban design and when it is integrated strategically in planning. DIY urbanism and experimentation with participation are currently strong influential factors in Danish planning. The article explores the use of participatory DIY urban design in two cases: the relocation of beer drinkers in Enghave Square and the Carlsberg City development in Copenhagen, Denmark. Carlsberg City is the most thorough Danish example of how DIY urban design is employed as an investment and planning tool. It discusses the implications of DIY urbanism in terms of how it can be understood in the context of the struggles over ‘the right to the city’, how it applies different activist tactics for the appropriation of space, and how it is integrated in planning and the development logic.

Keywords:

• do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism
• place appropriations
• participatory urbanism
• urban design
• urban planning
• activism

Notes

1. An important text promoting the term “tactical urbanism” has been the guidebook Tactical Urbanism 2: Short-Term Action, Long-Term Change, which is offered for free downloading by the Street Plans Collective.