Milwaukee’s Swing Park: Guerrilla Urbanism at the Intersection of Public Space, Community, and Urban Planning
Vol.20,No.2(2023)
Street Politics. Space, Identities, Memories, and Conflicts from the Sidewalk
Guerrilla urbanism involves citizen-led bottom-up unsanctioned temporary efforts. This kind of temporary urbanism may offer unique opportunities not possible through traditional planning approaches. This paper is a case study of the Swing Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It began as an effort to temporarily enliven an area at one end of a pedestrian walkway – the Marsupial Bridge – suspended under a viaduct across the Milwaukee River. What started as an illegal temporary installation of swings made of used tires was embraced physically and emotionally as part of the everyday life of the pedestrian bridge by the local community who wanted the swings to stay. The guerrilla urbanism group found itself in conflict with the City’s Department of Public Works over concerns about safety and legal liability, aside from budgetary constraints on permanently upgrading and maintaining the swings. This paper conceptualizes the case study within a three-part framework of public space, community, and urban planning. It examines how the Swing Park has been seen to have both succeeded and failed, while problematizing it within the context of the interdisciplinary literature on temporary urbanism.
temporary urbanism; guerrilla urbanism; public space; Swing Park; Milwaukee
Andres, Lauren and Amy Y. Zhang, eds. 2020. Transforming Cities through Temporary Urbanism: A Comparative International Overview. New York: Springer.
Arieff, Alison. 2011. “It’s Time to Rethink Temporary.” New York Times Opinionator. December 19, 1–5. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/its-time-to-rethink-temporary/).
Bamberger, Tom. 2014. “Why the Swing Park Failed.” Urban Milwaukee, December 16. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2014/12/16/in-public-why-the-swing-park-failed/).
Beekmans, Jeroen and Joop de Boer. 2014. Pop-Up City: City-Making in a Fluid World. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers.
Benjamin, Zoe. 2016. “Holton Street Bridge Swing Park is Still One of Milwaukee’s Hidden Gems.” OnMilwaukee, June 25. Retrieved December 29, 2022 (https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/swingpark).
Biesecker, Craig. 2015. Designing Urban Underhighway Spaces. Masters of Landscape Architecture Thesis. Athens, GA: University of Georgia.
Bishop, Peter and Lesley Williams. 2012. The Temporary City. London: Routledge.
Borret, Kristiaan. 1999. “The ‘Void’ as a Productive Concept for Urban Public Space.” Pp. 236–251 in The Urban Condition: Space, Community, and Self in the Contemporary Metropolis, written and edited by Dirk De Meyer, Kristiaan Versluys, Kristiaan Borret, Bart Eeckhout, Steven Jacobs, and Bart Keunen (The Ghent Urban Studies Team). Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.
Canelas, Patricia and Idalina Baptista. 2021. “Guerrilla Urbanism, Guerrilla Governance: Governing Neighborhoods in ‘With-Covid’ Times.” Town Planning Review 92(2): 279–284.
City of Milwaukee, Department of Public Works. 2005. “City Officials, Brady Street BID, Architectural Firm, and Structural Engineering Company Cut Ribbon for One-of-a-Kind Marsupial Bridge in Milwaukee.” In the Works October/November/December: 1–2.
Colomb, Claire. 2012. “Pushing the Urban Frontier: Temporary Uses of Space, City Marketing, and the Creative City Discourse in 2000s Berlin.” Journal of Urban Affairs 34(2): 131–152.
Crawford, Margaret. 2013. “Everyday Urbanism.” Pp. 151–154 in Urban Catalyst: The Power of Temporary Use, edited by Philipp Oswalt, Klaus Overmeyer, and Philipp Misselwitz. Berlin: DOM Publishers, 2nd edition.
Douglas, Gordon. 2014. “Do-It-Yourself Urban Design: The Social Practice of Informal through ‘Improvement’ through Unauthorized Alteration.” City & Community 13(1): 5–25.
Douglas, Gordon. 2020. “Kong at the Gates: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Possibility of Resistance.” Urban Design International 25: 203–208.
Faraj, Jabril. 2015. “With Swing Park, City Hopes to Look Forward not Back.” Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, March 3. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://milwaukeenns.org/2015/03/03/with-swing-park-city-hopes-to-look-forward-not-back/).
Gerend, Jennifer. 2007. “Temps Welcome: How Temporary Uses can Revitalize Neighborhoods.” Planning Magazine 73(11): 24–27.
Goodman, Jennifer. 2014. “Urban Renewal often comes one Neighborhood at a Time.” Builder Magazine December.
Greco, JoAnn. 2012. “From Pop-Up to Permanent.” Planning 78(9): 14–18.
Green, Jared. 2015. “Everything You Wanted to Know about Tactical Urbanism.” The Dirt weekly blog of the American Society of Landscape Architects, May 19. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://dirt.asla.org/2015/05/19/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-tactical-urbanism/).
Groth, Jacqueline and Eric Corijn. 2005. “Reclaiming Urbanity: Indeterminate Spaces, Informal Actors and Urban Agenda Setting.” Urban Studies 42(3): 503–526.
Haydn, Florian. 2006. “A Material that Never Comes to Rest.” Pp. 67–73 in Temporary Urban Spaces: Concepts for the Use of City Spaces, edited by Florian Haydn and Robert Temel. Berlin: Birkhauser.
Haydn, Florian and Robert Temel, eds. 2006. Temporary Urban Spaces: Concepts for the Use of City Spaces. Berlin: Birkhauser.
Holloway, John. 2010. Crack Capitalism. London: Pion Press.
Horne, Michael. 2012. “The Holton Bridge Swings.” Urban Milwaukee, October 15. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2012/10/15/plenty-of-horne-the-holton-bridge-swings/).
Hou, Jeffrey, ed. 2010 Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities. London: Routledge.
Hou, Jeffrey. 2020. “Guerrilla Urbanism: Urban Design and the Practice of Resistance.” Urban Design International 25: 117–125.
Iveson, Kurt. 2013. “Cities within the City: Do-it-yourself Urbanism and the Right to the City”. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37(3): 941–956.
Jacobs, Jane. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House.
Kim, Soo. 2015. “Paris-Plages: Artificial Beaches open along the Seine.” The Telegraph, July 20. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/paris/articles/Paris-Plages-artificial-beaches-open-along-the-Seine/).
Kovac, Nik. 2015. Newsletter, No. 15, Fall. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/ccCouncil/2015-PDF/Kovac_Newsletter_Fall_2015_WEB.pdf).
Krasny, Elke. 2006. “Spaces for Action and for Laughing Too.” Pp. 67–74 in Temporary Urban Spaces: Concepts for the Use of City Spaces, edited Florian Haydn and Robert Temel. Berlin: Birkhauser.
Kumer, Emma. 2018. “Swing Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: An Off-the-beaten-path Place to Literally Hang beneath Milwaukee’s Holton Street Bridge.” Atlas Obscura. June 15. Retrieved December 29, 2022 (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/swing-park).
La Dalmann. 2021. “Urban Plaza, Milwaukee, WI.” La Dalmann. Retrieved December 29, 2022 (https://www.ladallman.com/urban-plaza).
La, Grace and James Dallman. 2007. Along, Within, and Through. Presentation at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture annual meeting, Philadelphia, PA, March. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://www.acsa-arch.org/chapter/along-within-through/).
Lang Ho, Cathy. 2010. “Hold this Site.” Architect Magazine, May 24. Retrieved April 22, 2022 (https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/hold-this-site_o).
LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation). 2015. MANDI 2015: Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation. Milwaukee: LISC. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://www.lisc.org/media/filer_public/73/e5/73e58f9f-5ecb-4fe5-9efc-0865cc5643ef/mandi_2015_program.pdf).
Lydon, Mike and Anthony Garcia. 2015. Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change. Washington, DC: Island Press.
McCarthy, Linda. 2020. “Temporary Urbanism in a Public Park: The Case of Postman Square, Milwaukee, WI.” Pp. 215–229 in Transforming Cities through Temporary Urbanism: A Comparative International Overview, edited by Lauren Andres and Amy Y. Zhang. New York: Springer.
Mould, Oliver. 2014. “Tactical Urbanism: The New Vernacular of the Creative City.” Geography Compass 8(8): 529–553.
Murphy, Bruce. 2014. “‘Controversy’ Over Swing Park?” Urban Milwaukee, July 25. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2014/07/25/back-in-the-news-controversy-over-swing-park/).
Park(ing) Day (2023) Park(ing) Day: The Origin Story. Retrieved October 5, 2023 (http://myparkingday.org).
Nemeth, Jeremy and Joern Langhorst. 2014. “Rethinking Urban transformations: Temporary Uses for Vacant Land.” Cities 40: 143–150.
Oswalt, Philipp, Klaus Overmeyer, and Philipp Misselwitz. 2013. Urban Catalyst: The Power of Temporary Use. Berlin: DOM Publishers, 2nd edition.
Overmeyer, Klaus. 2007. Urban Pioneers: Temporary Use and Urban Development in Berlin. Berlin: Jovis.
Pagano, Celeste. 2013. “DIY Urbanism: Property and Process in Grassroots City Building.” Marquette Law Review 97(2): 335–389.
Reid, Dave. 2014. “The Swings are Back – and Better than Before.” Urban Milwaukee, July 23. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2014/07/23/eyes-on-milwaukee-the-swings-are-back-and-better-than-before/).
Schumacher, Mary Louise. 2014. “Controversy Hangs over Planning of New East Side Swing Park.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 24.
Sen, Arijit. 2017. “Placemaking.” Encyclopedia of Milwaukee, edited by Amanda Seligman and Margo Anderson. Chicago: Northern Illinois University Press.
Schwarz, Terry and Steve Rugare. 2009. Pop Up City. Cleveland, OH: Kent State University.
Snyder, Molly. 2013. “Save the Swings!” OnMilwaukee, November 4. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/savetheswings).
Temel, Robert. 2006. “The Temporary in the City.” Pp. 55–66 in Temporary Urban Spaces: Concepts for the Use of City Spaces, edited by Florian Haydn and Robert Temel. Berlin: Birkhauser.
Tierney, John. 2016. “Reimagining Times Square.” City Journal, spring. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://www.city-journal.org/html/reimagining-times-square-14328.html).
Till, Karen. 2011. “Interim Use at a Former Death Strip? Art, Politics and Urbanism at Skulpturenpark, Berlin_Zentrum.” Pp. 99–122 in The German Wall: Fallout in Europe, edited by Marc Silberman. Basinstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.
Tonkiss, Fran. 2013. “Austerity Urbanism and the Makeshift City.” City 17(3): 312–324.
Ulam, Alex. 2013. “Our Parks are not for Sale: From the Gold Coast of New York to the Venice Biennale.” Dissent Magazine 60(1): 64–70.
Wener, Richard. 2008. Building Sustainable Neighborhoods: The 2007 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence. Cambridge, MA: Bruner Foundation. Retrieved April 15, 2022 (https://www.rudybruneraward.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/2007_Building-Sustainable-Neighborhoods.pdf).
Zelinka, Al and Jenny Johnson. 2005. “Accidental Spaces.” Planning 71(11): 42–44.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2024 Linda McCarthy