ABSTRACT
This chapter explores temporary places as events in space and time. First, the relationship between time, space and meaning in temporary places is introduced, showing how their various combinations are characterized by particularity and contingency. The chapter then examines two forms of temporariness of places: when people move and when places are altered. Both of these forms of temporariness are short-lived arrangements and experiences with completely different meanings and impacts, depending on the social position and disposition of those involved. In both cases, if people look for change, they see temporariness as a form of liberation from constraints and a search for new horizons. If changes are forced on people, however, they might become displaced, living through a sense of transience and vulnerability. Temporariness may provide new opportunities for creativity through a flexible relationship between people and places, but also normalizing precarity and uncertainty for the less privileged.
