#9: Reimagining Abandoned Buildings into Cultural Centres

with Tiffany Fukuma
Lund, Sweden

This week’s guest on Cities Reimagined is Tiffany Fukuma, Managing Director of Trans Europe Halles, a network of over 160 alternative cultural centres across 40 countries which all have one in common: they reinterpret neglected and underused spaces such as factory and military buildings, commercial spaces, parking lots etc. for grassroots cultural activities.

In this episode, we talk about...

🏭… how alternative cultural centres are creating new usages and identities of buildings and spaces

✨… why local administrations trusting in the creativity of residents will make more exciting cities.

🪙… how city administration increasingly recognises that small-scale funding of resident-driven initiatives leads to more robust long-term transformation.

🌳… how repurposing existing buildings is key for making cities sustainable and livable.

🗺️ … how Tiffany’s background in organising punk rock shows in squats, working in embassies and city administration in Japan, Canada and France led up to managing Trans Europe Halles.

Cultural centres and initiatives repurposing abandoned spaces play a crucial role in reimagining cities. They are acting as dynamic spaces that foster creativity, community engagement, and social cohesion. They are experimental spaces oftentimes reinterpreting buildings and shifting not only the use function of spaces and the built environment but develop new identities by reinterpreting the built environment and cultural heritage of cities and neighbourhoods.