Pop-up urbanism in post-industrial landscapes within the European capital of culture program: Can it foster processes of creative placemaking?

The transformation of brownfield sites, regarded as unsightly features of the urban landscape, is currently a challenge in urban regeneration. One way in which this can be achieved is through temporary cultural interventions and adaptive reuse. This study investigates the European Capital of Culture 2023 cultural program as a temporary intervention within post-socialist former industrial areas of Timisoara, Romania, to highlight the creative placemaking processes facilitated through it. The dynamics of events during and after ECoC 2023 were investigated, and this information was supplemented with pre-event data from longitudinal studies and interviews. We applied data triangulation in four cluster locations in three urban areas representative of collective memory. The netnographic analysis entailed the centralization and coding of 819 events, 70 spaces, and 1053 Google Maps reviews, together with interviews ( n = 13), which were subjected to directed analysis and thematic coding. These methods were complemented by direct observations. The results show that the impact of ECoC TM2023 in acting as a catalyst in reconfiguring the post-industrial landscape and improving marginalized spaces varies as a function of the maturity of cultural initiatives. Areas with strong cultural infrastructures exhibit stable models, while those with fragile networks have seen development stimulated and demonstrate growth potential. We propose a three structural dimensions framework for the identified creative placemaking models-emergent, collaborative, and institutional-that explains their processes in post-industrial contexts. Our research emphasizes the central role of local artists in the initiation and enabling of creative placemaking processes, supported by collaborative institutional, independent, and community structures. • The maturity of cultural events contributes to the consolidation of creative placemaking. • Creative placemaking was classified as emergent, collaborative, and institutional. • ECoC TM2023 sped up creative placemaking and temporary use of post-industrial spaces. • The levels of engagement define various types of networks in creative placemaking. • ECoC TM2023 reactivated post-industrial spaces and linked them to the local community