The Multiple Temporalities of Informal Spaces

This paper explores the various temporalities of wastelands and derelict spaces and how these influence their production, (re) production and use. Commonly conceived as voids within a city's fabric, it highlights with reference to two case studies, how these contested zones, far from being voids, represent sites of action where "multiple temporalities collide" (Crang, 2001: 189). As a consequence of temporal 'gaps' within spatial planning and redevelopment processes, as solid future visions 'melt into air' (Berman, 1982), other temporal rhythms occur as individuals appropriate these territories and "reclaim time as well as space" (Kivell and Hatfield, 1999: 123). The paper also considers the potential of such spaces and actions to act as a standpoint from which critical perspectives towards urban planning, and the distorted timescales that underpin it, can be generated.