11 Sep Can meanwhile save nightlife?
Despite the London tube strike, many people made it via boat, bike and Overground, to Roca London Gallery where our director, Diane was taking part in a talk on meanwhile use.
Celebrating temporary users
Helen Parton had assembled Diane, Jan Kattein, Mary Otumahana, Amy Lamé and David Ralf to talk about meanwhile use and its role in nightlife.
The talk was part of a series running alongside the exhibition Meanwhile Space – Turning Vacancy into Vision: How Temporary Design is Shaping Cities running to 27 September.
Meanwhile's role in the night time economy
Drawing on Amy Lame’s experience as London’s first night czar and Diane’s involvement with Walthamstow as London’s pilot Night Time Enterprise Zone, the audience heard about the challenges which face venues operating at night.
Jan Kattein of Jan Kattein Architects has worked on multiple meanwhile buildings and spaces across London and highlighted the difficulty in moving on or securing longer term facilities when meanwhile use ends.
David Ralf from Theatre Deli shared how they use empty offices as temporary theatre space both for rehearsals and performances while Mary Otumahana shared her experiences from running The Record Shop. What started as a pop-up recording studio has now expanded offering young people access to music-related services and their own festival.
Key discussion points
- How meanwhile use can create spaces that appeal to all rather than to a narrow demographic only
- Engagement and understanding of the place surrounding the space is key – what is happening already that needs a space, who lives/works/visits the area, what are the barriers to going out in the evening or opening later. By doing this is there a greater chance of creating something which attracts people (appeal-affordability-opening hours-staffing) and that doesn’t compete with the existing offer.
- If meanwhile use is masking the challenges of securing permanent space with many uses on 30 days notice or out of lease
- Local authorities and developers being risk averse is leading to lost time in making decisions on uses, sites sitting empty and projects being shortened
- Planning and licencing must be more joined up for nightlife to have a better chance of success
- If the lack of understanding of meanwhile feeds into the ‘doom loop’ around high streets and the hospitality sector ie. spaces are perceived as having closed down or forced out by a new development (but the reality is their time is up)
Final thoughts
Does anyone outside the place sector know what ‘meanwhile use’ means?
Should it just be about temporary use/activation which more people would likely understand?
Which might remove some of the confusion about meanwhile sites’ short-ish life.
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