How can temporary design create long-term change?

In 2025, ArkDes revisited three previously funded practice-based research projects to follow up on what happened after the projects had ended. From the Rock Stage in Tibro to a fountain puzzle in Stockholm and untapped play potential in Upplands-Bro, the revisits show how prototypes and temporary design can grow into something larger and become part of long-term development.

The revisits are a strategy within ArkDes’ practice-based research to understand how ideas and knowledge continue to live on after a project has ended, and how results evolve over time. The aim is to see time as an active component of the research process and to understand how ideas mature, transform and take on new forms after a project’s conclusion. The focus is on how knowledge becomes embedded in municipal practice, how the working methods of architects and designers change, and how insights are shared with other actors.

The revisits show that the projects have inspired new forms of dialogue, collaboration and design – from temporary interventions to permanent changes in both the physical environment and municipal organisation. The practice-based research has planted seeds for new ways of working, both within the project teams and in ongoing municipal operations. Prototypes have acted as catalysts for long-term development, rooted in local needs and community participation.

“Through Den onde, den gode, den fule we were able to secure time and external resources to identify partners and concrete measures. Several of these have been integrated into planning documents or implemented, either as prototypes or as permanent actions. The project has opened up the organisation to more exploratory and experimental processes.”
– Leif Ahnland, City Architect, Tibro Municipality