Health, Diversity, and Temporary Appropriation in Public Space

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-01107-1
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 234 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Research in Planning and Urban Design

Cities are designed for order, but lived through improvisation. Contemporary cities are increasingly designed for control, efficiency, and safety, yet everyday urban life continues to exceed these intentions. This book explores how temporary appropriation—the spontaneous and informal use of public space—reveals how people actively shape their environments in ways that support health, diversity, and social interaction.

Bringing together urban design, public health, and social theory, the book advances the concept of temporary appropriation as a fundamental mechanism through which urban life is produced and negotiated. Through international case studies and interdisciplinary analysis, it demonstrates how everyday practices such as play, social gathering, and informal adaptation contribute to physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Moving beyond conventional approaches to placemaking and design, the book introduces the notion of performative healthscapes, showing how health is not simply provided by infrastructure, but emerges through lived spatial practices. It also critically addresses issues of regulation, inclusion, and embodied diversity, highlighting the uneven capacity to appropriate space across different groups.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students in urban design, planning, and urban health, as well as practitioners and policymakers concerned with creating more inclusive and adaptable public spaces.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lara-Hernandez, Jose Antonio

Melis, Barbora

Fachgebiete

• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Medizin, Gesundheit: Sachbuch, Ratgeber
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Städtebau, Stadtplanung (Architektur)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Temporary Appropriation as Urban Theory (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez and Barbora Melis) 2. Temporary Appropriation and the Dynamics of Place-making (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez and Barbora Melis) 3. Temporary Appropriation, Care, and Health in Transit (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Greg H. Mews, and Iuliana Rodinciuc) 4. Unveiling the Invisible City: Temporary Appropriation as Urbanism from Below (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez and Barbora Melis) 5. Play, Health, and Childhood Appropriation of Public Space (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez and Elisa Sacco) 6. Designing for Unpredictability: Public Space and Mental Health (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez and Barbora Melis) 7. Informal Interventions and the Regulation Dilemma (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez and Barbora Melis) 8. Inclusive Cities Through the Lens of Temporary Appropriation (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez and Barbora Melis) 9. Performative Health: Gender, Everyday Spatial Practice, and Temporary Appropriation (Barbora Melis and J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez) 10. Healthscapes in Practice: Everyday Appropriation, Care, and Public Space in the South Bronx (Barbora Melis and J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez) 11. Fluctuating Bodies: Temporary Appropriation, Public Space, and the Limits of Access (Nicole Thorpe and Barbora Melis) 12. Conclusion (J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez and Barbora Melis)

Über Autor(innen)

Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez is a Senior Researcher and Research Coordinator at Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. A member of the curatorial team for the Italian Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Biennale, he is a prolific scholar whose work on temporary appropriation, urban informality, and inclusive cities has been published and exhibited internationally. With over twelve years’ experience as a registered architect and urban designer, he is a Chartered Member of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Mérida (Mexico). His research spans Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.

Barbora Melis is an urban planner and researcher specialising in inclusive and gender-sensitive urbanism. She graduated in Urban Planning from Technische Universität Berlin (with studies at IUAV Venice) and has over ten years of international experience working for public institutions (including the Veneto Region) and in professional practice across Italy, Germany, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA. She teaches and researches at the University of Portsmouth (UK) and the New York Institute of Technology (USA), focusing on inclusion, diversity, and urban resilience from a feminist perspective.