Glimpses of a new profession within tactical urbanism

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in urban tactics. While a precise definition of the banner urban tactics is problematic, the generally recognized common features of such practices are the short-term, the small spatial scale, a playful attitude and the attention to locally available resources. It is an ambiguous phenomenon, both in its theorization and in its impact on public policies. The focus of this research is on the category of actors mainly enacting such practices: a growing body of new professional realities, who are stepping out disciplinary boundaries and engaging with complex spatial processes. This new generation of supposed subversive, socially minded and politically-motivated groups is experimenting with self-initiated projects, new forms of financing and alternative organizational structures, mostly in the form of multidisciplinary and precarious collectives. Exploratory and interpretative in nature, this paper suggests some potential lines of investigation to be followed.