Beyond permanent urban redevelopment: The unintended consequences of temporary brownfield use

This paper examines the phenomenon of temporary use of brownfields in European cities, exploring its potential benefits, challenges, and externalities. Brownfields, abandoned and often contaminated industrial sites, represent underutilised resources within urban landscapes. While permanent redevelopment of brownfields remains the ultimate goal, temporary use has emerged as a strategy to activate these spaces, generating social, economic, and environmental benefits in the interim. Through a review of case studies from post-communist cities in Eastern Europe as well as Western European cities with a focus on reunified Berlin, we analyse different approaches to temporary use, from spontaneous community-led initiatives to planned municipal projects. This analysis allows us to identify specific differences in approaches to temporary use projects between Eastern and Western Europe generating different benefits and externalities. The aim of the article is to identify, describe, and generalise particularly negative externalities related to various forms of temporary use of brownfields affecting their overall value, taking into account the character, place, time, and other socio-economic contexts to improve the design, implementation, and management of such projects by considering each region’s unique characteristics and needs. The paper identifies key factors contributing to successful temporary use plans and strategies, such as transparent communication between stakeholders, clear time horizons, and adaptive planning approaches. Subsequently, recommendations and planning policy implications are drawn, presented as lessons to be learned. The findings reveal that while temporary use can catalyse urban regeneration and community engagement, it also presents complex challenges – planning and creating effective policies, that balance the needs of communities, owners, developers, and city authorities.