U+I Think: Meanwhile Worthwhile Forever

The directors of U+I, in partnership with Dot Dot Dot, the property guardian social enterprise, are delighted to invite
you to the latest U+I Think event. Join us for an informal evening of drinks, networking and a vibrant panel discussion on the future of meanwhile use chaired by urban regeneration advisor David Barrie.

From pop-up swimming pools to urban gardens, cinemas,supper clubs and street-food festivals, boutique Boxparks to waste recycling centres, creative and useful ‘meanwhile’ uses for empty tracts of real estate in our cities have become a well-rehearsed form of urban entertainment. Across the country ‘temporary’ uses have become a permanent fixture. At Elephant & Castle, an alphabet soup of mobile gardens and shipping containers is fast turning into a new community of growth entrepreneurs. ‘Pop Brixton’ is now seeding many new ventures, capturing and applying the energy and excitement of the entrepreneur to dead car parks and a derelict sweet factory.

Have we reached Peak Meanwhile? Do the Cinderella Spaces of our cities need a new generation of Prince Charming? And who will be the new communities of the future, once the current cast of hipsters, hustlers and hackers have moved on?

Panelists:

David Barrie (Chair)

Katharine Hibbert - Founder and Director, Dot Dot Dot

Roger Wade - Founder, BoxPark

Eric Reynolds - Founding Director, Urban Space Management

Reza Merchant - CEO, The Collectiove / Pop Brixton

Dan Taylor - Programme Manager (Regeneration), London Borough of Southwark

Anna Strongman - Senior Projects Director, Argent

EVENTS TO INSPIRE
EXTRAORDINARY THINKING