This document reports on the main results, outcomes, and ultimate impacts achieved by the T-Factor pilot initiatives and the broader T-Factor project.
The T-Factor’s pilots – Amsterdam Science Park, Aleksotas Kaunas, Euston London, MIND Milan, Trafaria Lisbon, and Zorrotzaurre Bilbao – have been working for four years between 2020 and 2024, developing temporary use programmes within the context of broader urban regeneration initiatives. Adopting a mission-oriented approach, the pilots have been leveraging temporary uses as co-creative and participatory practices of placemaking in the ‘meanwhile’ of urban regeneration, seeking to inform and influence institutional decisions and pathways of redevelopment toward longer-term outcomes and impacts of sustainable and inclusive urban transformations.
T-Factor’s theory of change is rooted in the assumption that the time factor in urban regeneration is a strategic asset: temporary uses applied throughout the often long period of redevelopments and construction works can help create opportunities and capacities for delivering the urban places we need at the time of climate breakdown and rising inequalities. Well beyond being ‘cosy tiny tweaks’ constrained to short periods of time and micro scales of intervention, temporary uses can be testbeds for prototyping the future of urban areas, catalysing creative collaboration across sectors; fostering civic engagement; sustaining innovation in functions and urban identities; and pooling resources toward the creation of shared value. After four years of exploring this theory of change on the ground, this document aims to assess the project’s assumptions and to what degree they were confirmed, considering the main successes, failures, and overall legacy achieved through tested temporary uses. Moreover, as T-Factor is deeply embedded in international and transdisciplinary collaboration, this document also explores the project’s overall contribution to fostering conditions conducive to the adoption of temporary uses in cities across Europe.