Activating spaces. Connecting communities. Scaling impact.
What Is “Meanwhile Use”?
Meanwhile Use (noun): Meanwhile Use refers to the temporary activation of vacant or underutilised spaces for community purposes. It transforms idle assets into vibrant places that serve people and create shared value.
Meanwhile Use delivers social, cultural, and economic benefits:
- Reduced vandalism, and improved planning and community relations.
- Charities and community organisations access affordable space to expand services.
- Government and councils activate places, reduce the costs of inactivity, and demonstrate meaningful urban renewal.
In short, Meanwhile Use turns empty spaces into opportunities—creating impact while bridging the gap between vacancy and long-term development.
Connecting community organisations with commercial property owners to bring empty spaces to life.
The Meanwhile Use Platform, delivered by the Property Industry Foundation with support from TOGA Group and the City of Sydney, will unlock the potential of vacant spaces by connecting property owners with community organisations. What begins as a temporarily vacant asset can become emergency housing, a pop-up library, youth training centre, food bank warehouse, art studio, or a social-enterprise start-up hub.
The Meanwhile Use Platform is being built to create a low-barrier, collaborative system that empowers communities to activate the assets they already have, delivering housing and place-based projects at a fraction of the cost and time of traditional models. In doing so, it will build local capability, strengthen cross-sector partnerships, and help Australia respond to disadvantage with urgency, creativity, and care.
Our Vision
A world where vacant spaces are activated to create opportunity, connection and thriving communities.
Global and Local Inspiration
Around the world, cities are reimagining how vacant spaces can serve their communities.
Global Precedents
From London to Los Angeles, Berlin to Buenos Aires, temporarily vacant assets are being used to create emergency accomodation, short-term storage, pop-up retailers, co-working hubs and cultural spaces that re-energise entire neighbourhoods.
Meanwhile in Australia
Across the nation Meanwhile Use initiatives are providing safe emergency housing, research facilities, recycling drop off points, creative studios and office space for community organisations.
These projects demonstrate that with the right connections and support, temporary use can create lasting community impact.
Join us
Let’s make the temporary use of space a normal and celebrated part of how our cities, towns and communities work. Become part of the Meanwhile Use Platform and bring Australia’s empty spaces back to life.
Thank You to Our Supporters
This project has been made possible through the support of our funders and founding partners.
Funded by:
Thank you to our founding partners TOGA and Eleven22, and our supporters including the City of Sydney, for their ongoing commitment to accelerating the adoption of Meanwhile Use across Australia.
