Edited by Francesca Ferguson

'Makeshift' implies a temporary or expedient substitute for something else, something missing. Make_Shift City extends the term to embrace urban design strategies. Make_Shift City implies a condition of insecurity: the inconstant, the imperfect and the indeterminate. It also implies the designing act of shifting or reinterpretation as a form of urban détournement. Austerity urbanism and the increasing scarcity of resources among the cities and boroughs of Europe in particular have far-reaching consequences for civic space. Where there is a lack of regular planning processes, gaps arise as open spaces that enable an ad-hoc informal urban design. What often results is a process of urban commoning: the renegotiation of shared spaces and shared resources. This urbanism of small acts is an emancipator practice; a re-imagining of the city space and its potentialities.

Berlin, 2014, 27.7 x 21.6cm, illustrated, 256pp. Paperback.