Urban Fabric Initiatives : reinventing cities together

Urban Fabric Initatives are experimental urban initiatives funded by the Agence française de développement, which develop public spaces or local community facilities in a collaborative manner, and which support the animation of these sites through local dynamics.
These initiatives support the start-up of large-scale urban projects and encourage residents to take ownership of them through the implementation of rapid improvements: recreational and sports areas, green spaces, pedestrian walkways, etc..

Tactical and transitional urbanism is a urban planning approach that focuses on short-term, small-scale interventions to experiment with ideas, test new solutions and temporarily improve urban spaces..

• The tactical urbanism, "light urbanism" or "agile urbanism", consists of rapidly implementing temporary and inexpensive urban projects to improve the living environment of residents, often without requiring major structural changes. These projects are frequently implemented to explore new concepts, respond quickly to local requirements and/or design more user-friendly and inclusive environments.
  
• The transitional urbanism on the other hand refers to temporary projects that occupy vacant or underused urban spaces pending their long-term development. These projects can include community gardens, ephemeral markets, art spaces or temporary installations to revitalise neighbourhoods and provide opportunities for community engagement while awaiting permanent use of these sites.
  

Each Urban Incubator, deployed over a period of 2 to 3 years, supports a major urban project supported by the Agence française de développement (AFD), the overall process of which generally extends over 8 to 10 years. UFI support these long-term projects to offset the implementation delays, by offering small-scale developments, public interventions and installations that are sometimes temporary while rapidly improving the living environment for residents.The Urban Incubator is generally involved at the start of the associated urban project. It can :

• be initiated at the start of the studies to identify preliminary needs or contribute to the design of the facilities and installations planned as part of the major urban project.
• be launched at the start of the project to mobilise stakeholders and residents in the neighbourhoods concerned.

In rarer cases, the Urban Incubator intervenes after the project has been completed, to improve its integration into the existing urban fabric or the commissioning and management of sites.

Urban Fabric Initiatives form a international network of practitionersled by the Programme d'Animation des Pépinières Urbaines (PAPU). The PAPU encourages exchanges of experience and knowledge, thereby enabling the identification of models that can be replicated in new urban contexts.
Funded by Agence Française de Développement until 2026, the programme is supported by the Gret as lead, of Cabanon Vertical and UrbaMonde.