save the innercity fairgrounds   wastelands, academic workshop with s. hauser, m. gandy, st. barber, t.j. demos, h. steiner... udk-berlin, 2018

1. Situation
linz has a large fairground which is located right in the citycenter, on the banks of the river danube therefore it is also a high-waterzone and there have never been any building.
The fair is the oldest und biggest all over austria. It takes place twice a year. The rest of the year it has been a parking spot for 1000 cars. But since one year parking is not longer posible and now there is an asphalted wasteland. So we have a temporary wasteland.
the pressure on the area for new design and also news uses is rapidly arising: lot of ideas, most of the ideas transfer the fair to somewhere else.
in this situation I decided to be part of the discussion, trying to save this temporary wasteland.

2. My proposal
My biggest ally (“ellei”) is the fair. Without the fair - i think - there is no chance to argue a wasteland in a city-center.
So I collected arguments for the fair on this area.
Beyond that I thought there must something visible on the area, which shows that there is something going on. I was looking for something which has positive connotations. So i suggested a green tree-belt around the area to give the area a frame
And the third part of my proposal has been a kind of a handbook for temporary users.

So all together I would say, i tried to simulate planning und activities to save the area as it is. It is more about to start a discurs (“discors”) in hope to change the perception of this temporary wasteland into something positive. It is the attempt to prevent material design-planning trough an immaterial-mental occupation.

3. Questions for the auditorium:
*Do we need innercity (temporary) wastelands? Why?
*If yes: what to do, how to save?