Meanings
plural meanwhile spaces
- A vacant or underused property that is temporarily occupied for a beneficial use before future redevelopment; spaces used for short-term purposes, such as pop-up shops, art studios, community gardens, or affordable housing, to generate value and support local communities.
1 more example
The past years has seen a fluorescence of meanwhile spaces in cities throughout the UK, particularly in London. Meanwhile spaces are explicitly and intentionally time-limited in nature. A selection of meanwhile space projects in London is used here to stimulate a brief discussion about the place of temporary urbanism in the theory and practice of contemporary landscape architecture.
2013, Milliken, Sarah, “Meanwhile Spaces”, in ResearchGateSynonyms: meanwhile site
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA vacant or underused property that is temporarily occupied for a beneficial use before future redevelopment; spaces used for short-term purposes, such as pop-up shops, art studios, community gardens, or affordable housing, to generate value and support local communities.
Origin
Coined in the United Kingdom from meanwhile + space. [21st c.]
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
meanwhile space. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meanwhile%20space
“meanwhile space.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meanwhile%20space. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “meanwhile space,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meanwhile%20space.
Source: meanwhile space on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.