International workshop > 16-17/5/2013 > 4AM

Vacant Central EuropeVACANT CENTRAL EUROPE is a project by KÉK (Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre) in cooperation with Bec Zmiana(PL), Napraw Sobie Miasto(PL), Praguewatch (CZ), Archimera (SK), 4AM and PBlog (SK), with support from the International Visegrad Fund.

As a consequence of the economic crisis and profound restructuring of the means of production in post-industrial Europe, the questions of vacant urban properties and their temporary use have become a distinguished topic in the discourses of urban planning, architecture and urban sociology. The scale of vacancy in Eastern Central Europe is even more striking than in Western European cities. In the region, however, despite the acuteness of the problem of vacancy, there is very little awareness of the phenomenon. While there are successful top-down and bottom up initiatives for the cultural or social reuse of empty properties, systematic approaches to understand and to solve this problem are still missing, or being refused due to rigid emphasis on the rights and freedoms of private owners.
The Vacant Central Europe project aims to address the problem of vacancy by mapping empty properties, by researching planning instruments, architectural tools and by exchanging experiences and strategies of intervention that make the temporary use of empty properties and their conversion for another use possible. The project’s objective is to turn the negative effects of the economic crisis and post-industrial economic restructuring into opportunities, by offering available space for various social and cultural initiatives, start-up companies and socia enterprises.
Besides launching a debate about the issue, the project also aspires to elaborate legal, economical and architectural frameworks for the temporary use and conversion of vacant properties, by introducing a more flexible and process-based planning and real estate management logic that may result in a more accessible urban building stock where social and cultural experimentation is encouraged.

PROGRAMME:

16/5

15:00 – walk in vacant area of „Brno South Centre“ (Jižní centrum) with discussion afterwards

19:00 – presentation by Michaela Pixová (Praguewatch) – Creative use of abandoned buildings and brownfields in Prague

17/5

Od 10:00 – presentations and walks to vacant areas:
Wannieck Factory (Vaňkovka) – Abandoned factory transformed into Art Gallery and Shopping Mall;

Vlněna – visit of creative centre „Šestá větev“ in former textile factory;

CT Park – reconversion former industrial area into administrative zone;

Former City Penitentiary – city project of Culture Centre;

20:00 – Festival POTENCIÁL 2/Multiplace taking place in former textile factory Vlněna;