Abstract Summary
Use of temporary and tactical interventions to fulfil new demand for active travel modes in cities has experienced an explosion in interest from researchers and practitioners. Critically, they are heralded as means by which radical ideas can be implemented quickly and cheaply by municipal governments to enact a local mobility transition without the risks and costs associated with permanent infrastructure. Despite the critical role of the COVID-19 pandemic as a unique landscape opportunity, full valorisation of these benefits remains rare in practice. Understanding the causal pathways which lead to various successes and failures associated with projects in their diverse contexts. We perform a semi-systematic review of 93 academic sources covering temporary and tactical dynamics in their broadest sense in order to assess the transitional capacity of diverse representative cases. Building from an assessment framework adapted from Roorda et al. (2014) by Bertolini (2020), we find that the viability of using temporary interventions towards long-term transitionary goals are hampered by lack of viable long-term vision; disconnections between levels of governance; a remaining risk-aversion to radical change and a lack of serious attention to mobile behaviour. Cases of failure in experimentation provide the basis for valuable learning experiences. However, in practice, this experience is lost following assessment based on a reductive success/failure dichotomy. Though some research has approached transitional capability of urban experimentation using sets of limited or ideal-typical case studies, this paper makes use of a wide range of cases linked by similar dynamics, casting a wide net in order to draw attention to atypical or immaterial public space interventions. Doing so allows us to focus in on the diverse means by which walking and cycling can be supported at various scales. This paper assesses the transitionary potential of existing case studies on mobility interventions, addressing issues for practice and identifying evidence-based pathways for more strategic utilisation of tactical and temporary street alterations. It provides groundwork for municipalities to lower the risks associated with promoting active travel through design and policy, while furthering the necessary elements for a radical break with the current regime. Keywords: tactical urbanism; active travel; participatory planning; mobility transition. References: Bertolini, L. (2020) From “streets for traffic” to “streets for people”: can street experiments transform urban mobility?, Transport Reviews, 40:6, 734-753, DOI: 10.1080/01441647.2020.1761907. Roorda, C., Wittmayer, J., Henneman, P, Steenbergen, F. van, Frantzeskaki, N. & Loorbach, D. (2014) Transition management in the urban context: guidance manual. DRIFT, Rotterdam: Erasmus University Rotterdam.
