Waiting, transit assemblages and the making of public spaces

Inconventional planning practice, transit spaces such as bus stations and bus stops tend to be designed as generic technical fixtures. Little consideration is paid to various waiting practices, the different ways transit passengers interact with the material and social structures at the bus stop and its surrounding, and the potential of transit spaces to serve as urban public spaces. From an assemblage perspective, this study proposes to see the bus stop not as a ready-made product, but as a process through which a transit assemblageis produced through a range of waiting practices involving both human (transit passengers) and non-human actors (material artifacts) at the bus stop location. Based on a close observation study of selected bus stops in Malmö and a small survey of user opinions of Malmö’s bus stops, this paper investigates the processes by which a transit assemblage came into being and is maintained. The paper elaborates on how waiting activities are supported by various transit assemblages that are produced through interactions between users and artifacts at the bus stop location involving not only the assigned bus stop facilities but also the surrounding physical and social infrastructure. It highlights the components and processes that constitute and produce stabilized transit assemblages that have the capacity to support a variety of waiting practices by heterogeneous groups of people. The paper emphasizes the quality of emergence and heterogeneity of transit spaces and argues that it is these qualities that enable them to serve as public spaces.