New forms of space appropriation from below - The importance of informal approaches for sports and urban development

By Stephanie Haury (Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) at the Federal Office for
Building and Regional Planning (BBR))

2er-Skateboardverein, Hannover

© Bernd Jacob

In the model project research of experimental housing and urban development (German abbreviation ExWoSt) conducted by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), many observations could be made on the topics of co-productive urban development and appropriation of space. Many of the pilot projects studied were focused on sports and exercise. In the following, we will share some of the knowledge gained from this research project.

Sports in the city

Land use for sports purposes has changed dramatically in recent years. Nowadays sports are not only practised on sports fields and sports facilities, but also on brownfields and leftover areas, in the forest, and above all in public spaces. Where there is a conscious and regular use of a place within or also outside the applicable rules, one tends to speak of spatial appropriations. These can be indoor spaces as well as outdoor or public spaces.

In the appropriation of space in the field of sports and physical activity various levels and intensities can be observed. They range from temporary and situational spontaneous actions in public space, to semi-professional interim uses of brownfields and leftover areas, to professional project developments with a long-term usage perspective. 

Many of these developments take place through reinterpretation and repurposing of existing, mostly one-dimensional spaces. As these were originally designed for particular usage, it is often difficult or even impossible to put them to a variety of uses. Conversion therefore often gives rise to conflicts of use and interests that have to be negotiated between the actors concerned.

Commitment and appropriation of space

Appropriation of spaces is mainly based on ideas and goals that depend on the current culture and stages of life lived by the users. Their goal is to determine for themselves the everyday use of the place or the way in which the respective space should be used. 

It is often the adolescents or young people who appropriate spaces in the city. This is because they find it difficult or impossible to cope with the spaces that adults have defined for them in the city. They want to find spaces themselves, be allowed to change them and then adapt them to their specific needs. Most of the time, they are mainly interested in those spaces that have not yet been occupied by the older generation and not been designed for their purposes. It is in these "untouched" spaces where they can stay undisturbed and thus automatically avoid potential conflicts.  

Central public squares and places are important points of identification for the youngsters, where they can satisfy their need to be present in public. The city thus becomes the stage for a group of young active people who would like to demonstrate their ideas and perceptions to the older society.
This is a very special form of participation and civic commitment, because it is based on personal motivation. This public commitment to the space and the resulting appropriation is voluntary, not for material gain, and often bears common good features.

Alternative land uses

It is often the case that such appropriations arise from an evasion of conflict or crisis situations (e.g. the right to sports in the city). The result is an open positioning on relevant issues and a critically based attitude of protest. The goal of the respective actors is to make themselves heard and to generate a collective opinion.

This happens above all when existing and established ways of thinking, acting and organising become unstable and existing systems come under "stress". The basis of spatial appropriation can also be the creation of alternative spatial images. Due to a lack of creative freedom, some groups find it difficult to identify with the respective places. Young city makers therefore reinterpret abandoned or neglected areas and places and find alternative forms of usage for them. The result is a self-determined shaping of the place, an assumption of responsibility and co-production.

For example, the redesign by the citizens of Stuttgart of the so-called Österreichischer Platz (Austrian Square) is very exciting. The aim of the redesign is to set up a long-term development of the place into a cooperative urban space for everybody. By overlaying and multi-coding diverse new uses such as band rehearsal spaces, food sharing, studios, workshops, a bicycle repair café, a social station, but also urban movement spaces such as a public bouldering wall, table tennis tables, a new creative place for meeting and innovation is created. The group itself describes that only "in places where outdated routines are broken, something new can emerge."

Informal approaches in sports

In the meantime, sports activities have conquered the entire city and are transforming it into an exercise area. Sports have thus emancipated themselves from the "originally" fixed places and spaces and have literally conquered the cities. In this context, there are diverse forms of non-organised or informal sports that rely on public (open) spaces and green areas which are used intensively for this purpose, e.g. for sports such as skating, obstacle courses, BMX or breakdancing. Young people in particular use urban space also as places to meet and try themselves out. Public space therefore also serves for testing new roles, for the users themselves but also for the multi-coding of the relevant space.

Just as important as trying out and experimenting with sports and sports actions, young people also want to present their results and their skills. They want to show and share their sporting successes with others. The public space thus becomes a kind of stage for them. At events and action days they demonstrate their skills and show themselves to the public. Both the acceptance and participation are even better if these presentations take place at special or central locations in the city. Many sports that have developed gradually in the cities and are practised by young people have developed into major events in the cities in recent years. 

Mellowpark Berlin and the so-called 2-er skateboard club of Hannover

In addition to public spaces, brownfields and unused parks are also being appropriated by informal sports activities. An interesting example is the "Mellowpark" project in Berlin. The youth association called "all eins e.V." was threatened with eviction from a brownfield site appropriated by young people, which after several years had become a well-visited meeting place and centre for trend sports and youth culture. After several months of protests, the young athletes were offered an alternative location by the city administration, an unused park and sports field areas in the district of Treptow-Köpenick. However, this project has in the meantime become Europe's largest skate park. But the park does not only offer skating and trend sports. It has become an important meeting place for the young citizens of Berlin as it provides both cultural activities as well as many attractive green areas to be designed and appropriated by oneself. 

In addition, the project of the "2er-Skateboard Club” in Hannover Linden also shows in an impressive way how young skaters have appropriated brownfields and transformed them into an informal small skatepark. Embedded between leftover areas and commercial properties with a lot of wild growth, they have built various skate spots on their own initiative. The existing "sports facilities" of this site blend into their surroundings in a very natural way. The group of skaters is connected by the common goal and the sporty focus. In the meantime, the skateboard club has taken over a second large area in the nearby surroundings and built an experimental container and wagon village, the so-called "PLATZ project". The aim is to provide young creatives and start-ups with a space for unconventional ideas with non-profit approaches or experimental character in the midst of a "self-made" city.

Thinking ahead

The reinterpretation of spaces always includes the revitalization of the relevant area, which is even desirable from the planning side, especially in view of the existing problems caused by demographic change. A new understanding of space can be found in self-organised and informal sports. The mono-functional view of space is overruled and the existing spaces are multi-coded. However, the constantly new negotiation of space and the unregulated use can also lead to conflicts. Locating, identifying and dealing with self-organised or informal sports still poses great challenges for municipalities due to the many different forms, the changing locations and the many different actors. 

The future task of the city administration must therefore be to allow creative usage in the neighbourhoods and to simplify the framework conditions for temporary occupation. In order to improve awareness of the framework conditions for such creative use of public space, the BBSR has published the open space primer "Wissenswertes über die selbstgemachte Stadt" (Things to know about the self-made city). “Open spaces" are defined here as unbuilt or unused areas which thus offer space for the development of individual ideas. In a very understandable and simple way, the primer contains rules and approaches on how to appropriate these city spaces. Among others, it also contains legal "loopholes" and information on the discretionary leeway of municipalities in order to be able to fully exploit all available possibilities. Appropriation of spaces plays a major role for both the practice of informal sports or experimental approaches and, overall, for the creation of lively and "physically active" cities.

It is the task of the municipalities to allow creative and informal projects, to take them into account and include them in their higher-level planning. In terms of sports, this means that there must be no competition between informal and professional club-based sports. Representatives of both forms must approach each other, learn from each other and accept each other. Because vibrant cities can only be created by taking into account and involving all existing forces and energies: this also includes civic projects initiated by young city makers.