Temporary Land Uses (TLU) are simply any use of space that is time-limited in nature. The space can be developed, undeveloped or derelict, but if the use is temporary, you’ve got yourself a TLU. In some cases, the term pop-up is used to refer to these short-lived initiatives by community champions and start-up entrepreneurs.

While exploring Europe several years ago I developed an appreciation for the importance of TLUs in urban revitalization. Upon returning to Calgary, I took a sabbatical from nursing to pursue an BA in Urban Studies at the University of Calgary. As part of my studies, I was fortunate to be able to explore TLUs in Calgary through a University of Calgary research grant. It was during this research I met Richard aka the Everyday Tourist and when he read my final report, he invited me to write this guest blog.

Alyssa Carruthers

In Calgary’s East Villag, Bounce is a great example of TLU in Calgary. The site will eventually be developed with a major residential building on it as part of the East Village Master Plan.

In Sunnyside, containR park is another example of a temporary use of a site that will eventually be developed into a mixed-use residential development, hopefully with affordable housing. It has been used for numerous art events, as well as pop-up activities.

Old Airport Becomes A Park

One well-known example of a TLU is Berlin’s Templhofer Feld. After the closure of the centrally located Templhof Airport in 2008, the Berlin Senate attempted to have the land developed. In response, citizens came together to form Squat Templhof to occupy and protest the privatisation of the land. The local government listened and today Templhoffer Feld is a popular park used for sports, picnics, community gardening and art exhibits. While the park today is a permanent fixture, for many years after its opening, it was considered temporary, and was targeted for redevelopment. Through intervention and lobbying by community groups, the park was made permanent by referendum in 2014.

Everyday Tourist Note: I have been to Templhoffer Field and it is amazing.

DIY: Mini putt park at Berlin’s Templhofer Feld. The former airport is home to numerous activities and festivals.

Bridgeland TLU

Calgary has several examples of TLUs throughout the city but could in my opinion benefit from more. Bridgeland’s Polka Dot Intersection is a fantastic example of a variety of community coming together to initiate a TLU. With the goal of increasing safety, Bridgeland community members created a simple painted polka dot motif at the intersection of 1st St. and 9th Ave NE. The whimsical design visually extends the curb, making cyclists and pedestrians more visible and decreases the time and distance to cross the road. Additionally, the bright polka dots add a unique pop of colour that helps motorists notice the intersection and slow down.

The project was funded by an ActivateYYC microgrant project funded by the Federation of Calgary Communities aimed at encouraging communities to come together to create spaces for better connectivity and urban activity.

Link: Bridgeland’s Polka Dot Intersection

Beltline “Rogue” TLU

In terms of greenspace, in my neighbourhood i.e. Beltline, there is a beautiful example of a ‘rogue’ TLU at play. A local gardener has transformed a vacant lot into a beautiful haven for bees and butterflies in the summer. After a brief chat one morning, I learned the gentleman who started the garden doesn’t own the land and doesn’t know who does, only that he saw an empty patch to plant some tomatoes one year. Since then, the tomato patch has been expanded to include all manner of fruit and vegetables. Featuring proud sunflowers, tangles of pea-vines and cheery marigolds, this garden isn’t official, but it does brighten the neighbourhood and functioning as a temporary green space.

On a recent walkabout in the Beltline I found what looks like a community garden on a vacant lot on 15th Ave SW just west of 11th Street SW.

Another example of a more formal TLU is the conversion of the rooftop of the City Centre Parkade into High Park last summer. As a result of less demand for parking in the downtown Calgary Parking Authority and the Beltline community converted the rooftop into a 2-acre urban park with picnic tables, boardwalk, and various play stations. This summer it will be adding a stage for performances.

Everyday Tourist Note: While in Berlin, I also was at a bar on the top of a parkade that was very popular. Wouldn’t it be great if Calgary’s High Park could be a popular family park by day and a night club at night? Kudos should also be given to Calgary Parking Authority for the creation of Park Park in Inglewood, where a surface parking lot at the corner of 9th Ave and 11th St SE. is both a parking lot and a colourful urban park with picnic tables and play stations next to the sidewalk and a basketball net further away.

Berlin’s popular night club on the roof of a parking garage.

Calgary’s High Park is located on the roof of Calgary Parking Authority’s City Centre Parkade.

Sunalta & Montgomery

In Sunalta a group of avid skateboards took it upon themselves to create a small skate park on an abandoned site under the Crowchild Trail, Bow Trail, LRT bridges. And in Montgomery a Dad whose son who loved dirt biking identified an orphan piece of land northwest of the Shaganappi and Trans Canada interchange and built a bike park for the neighbourhood kids.

Link: Calgary Needs More DIY Gritty Places

Above: Calgary Parking Authority’s Park Park initiative which has transformed a surface parking lot in Inglewood into a fun public space, while still functioning as a parking lot.

Above: in Caglary’s East Village, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation has for several years now used a future development site as a temporary public space for various uses, from pop-up shops to a sports park.

Barriers to TLUs in Calgary?

After spending some time abroad, I was curious why TLUs weren’t as prominent in Calgary, compared to Berlin, London, or Budapest. For example, in Budapest, “ruin bars” are popular night-life spots that take place in dilapidated buildings in the VII District.

In Berlin, I enjoyed sunning myself on a temporary beach along the River Spree. And in London, my favourite place to eat was in a warehouse slated for redevelopment which had been transformed into a month-long street feast.

If pop-up night-clubs, temporary art and food halls and roving restaurants were possible in the abandoned factories and warehouses of Europe, why couldn’t we do the same in empty office spaces? One big reason is Calgary’s empty office buildings are not dilapidated and abandoned, just empty and squatting isn’t an option.

Another reason is TLUs in European cities often happen by people squatting on the site or in an empty building who are then supported by the law. The historical, economic, and socio-political culture of Europe has lent itself to being favourable for TLUs. Long histories of socialist governments, citizen dissent, legal systems that favour squatting, and massive tracts of land abandoned by businesses and industry following the destruction of WW2 create unique conditions in Europe for TLUs that don’t exist in Calgary.
Other barriers to TLUs in Calgary include all the red tape and regulations to get them approved - things business permits, zoning concerns and alcohol licensing often take many months or longer to get approved, which rules out short-term temporary use.

The challenge for Calgary policymakers is to adapt current policies, such as rigid building codes and permitting, to be nimbler and more practical for TLU, while being able to ensure a safe and quality venue. A good example would be how City Council cut the red tape for summer patios during COVID and are continuing to make it easier and cheaper for café and restauranteurs to have patios this summer.

One of my surprise findings was how citizens have a difficulty accepting the temporariness of certain TLUs. As one interviewee stated, “as soon as you encourage people to activate a site, they embrace it. People get used to the temporary use, like it, and then when you go to change it back to the original use, they have a meltdown.” The example they cited was how dog owners had created a temporary dog park on undeveloped land in a new suburban community that they knew was scheduled for future development but became quite upset when the landowner began construction. This was cited as a reason by several developers and property owners for choosing to keep their future development sites vacant, rather than opening them up for TLU.

Everyday Tourist note: I have been told many times by architects that many of the things that make European buildings and streets so vibrant is that they are more liberal with everything from building codes to drinking laws. European cities also have a long history of creating mixed-use buildings and repurposing buildings, while North American cities like Calgary have focused on segregated land-use, single-use and purpose-built buildings.

Last Word

The importance of TLUs has been explored from many perspectives by urbanists, scholars, and community activists alike. For some, the strength of TLUs lies within their ability to activate unused spaces and contribute to urban revitalization at minimal to no cost. But for me the key benefits included everything from improving safety, public engagement, reducing crime, increasing recycling, beautification and enhancing the pedestrian friendliness of the urban landscape.

I truly hope Calgary entrepreneurs, politicians, planners, landowners, developers and community leaders will come together to facilitate more TLUs in our City Centre as a means of making it a better place to “live, work and play.”

Guest Blog by Alyssa Carruthers