ONE THING UPON ANOTHER
Piggybacking practices are multiple-use propositions for anchoring socially or economically marginal activities alongside dominant ones. From rooftop community farms, to student-senior home shares, and public pavilions incorporating repurposed construction mock-ups, these and other examples of piggybacking utilize a common set of tactics to offset one program’s disadvantaged position in relation to other more traditional—and more fully capitalized—forms of urban development.
These practices are emerging in response to the intensifying pressures of contemporary market logics, and alongside widespread increases in social and economic inequality. Would-be piggybackers scan the urban landscape for vacancy, waste, and un- or underexploited niches. Potential opportunities may be spatial—in, on, or in-between buildings and sites, but may also be temporal, existing within the daily, weekly, seasonal, or onetime gaps between use and non-use.
The Piggybacking Practices Virtual Exhibition and Symposium interrogate the tactics and sensibilities of piggybacking as a means of addressing contemporary forms of inequality in the built environment. The project aims to examine potential roles for architects, designers, and planners in identifying and visualizing latent sites, situations, and practices to support new forms of piggybacking. The goal is to critically assess the opportunities and limitations of these practices to incrementally expand equity, opportunity, and sustainability in the built environment.
PROJECT CREDITS
The Piggybacking Practices Virtual Exhibition and Symposium are part of an ongoing research project by Brian Holland.
The project is supported by the Dean’s Office of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, University of Arkansas.
STUDENT RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Terrinique Bullard
Emily Cross
Jared Davenport
Chloe Harris
Kayla Ho
Michael Mancil
Hattie Morrison
Emma Petersen
Anthony Sysoukrath
Brenden Wohltjen
GRAPHIC DESIGN
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