Time is a crucial resource to define the management of public and private real estate. Short-term available spaces present opportunities for innovative temporary or transitory uses that explore diverse unconventional forms of urban development. Temporary uses have demonstrated their capacity to innovate by combining different forms of governance, including diverse urban actors, and becoming a testing ground for real estate management.

The flexible nature of temporary use enables experimentation with commons, fostering shared spaces and resources that thrive on collective stewardship and collaboration. While temporary use and commons create social value through participation and collaboration, their short-term nature also raises critical questions about resource distribution, and equity in real estate management, and the long-term impact of these practices.

In this context, we ask: What are the values of temporary use for people, real estate, and urban context? Who benefits from collaborative temporary uses, and how? How can we disclose and assess the impact of these projects?

This symposium aims to open a debate on this topic starting from the experiences of three innovative European practices: Plateau Urbain (Paris), Communa (Brussels) and Stad in de Maak (Rotterdam). Over the past decade, they have demonstrated that temporary uses can be scaled up beyond one-off experiments while giving space to complex uses such as housing, work and community. By bringing together their work and experience within the academic debate, we will have the opportunity to discuss the complexities of collaborative forms of short-term dwelling in diverse real estate contexts and urban transformations.