Tactical Urbanism as an Approach for Reactivating Lost Urban Spaces in Developing Cities

Riham Faragallah; Hourakhsh Ahmad Nia

doi:10.38027/mediterranean-cities_vol6no1_6

Authors

Riham Faragallah Department of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Pharos University in Alexandria (PUA), Alexandria, Egypt https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3072-4304
Hourakhsh Ahmad Nia Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Alanya University, Türkiye https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1083-280X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.38027/mediterranean-cities_vol6no1_6

Keywords:

Developing Cities, Lost Urban Spaces, Reactivating, Sustainable Regeneration, Tactical Urbanism

Abstract

Lost urban spaces are sites of informal activities or areas which often become neglected, posing challenges to city management. However, they also hold significant potentials as assets for sustainable urban development by generating income and encouraging community participation, particularly in developing countries. Through tactical urbanism, lost spaces can be transformed into productive and community-serving environments. Tactical urbanism offers an effective approach for this transformation, relying on low-cost, flexible and service-oriented interventions. This paper explores the concept of lost urban spaces, their types and latent potentials, alongside with an overview of tactical urbanism, its definition, importance and mechanisms. An analytical study for different examples demonstrates how tactical urbanism can successfully reactivate lost spaces. Finally, the study proposes context-sensitive framework for integrating tactical urbanism into sustainable urban regeneration strategies that can be applied in developing cities and proposes recommendations at multiple levels.

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