Our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance” (Brene Brown). Bedoya posits an argument that creative placemaking lacks understanding in the political implications of belonging and dis-belonging in society—that before there are “places of belonging, you must feel you belong.” This is the overarching theme of creative placemaking who’s term wasn’t coined until 2009 by Landesman and Shigekawa despite its early history going back to the 1950s. The NEA and these two individuals commissioned a decade-long study that would last from 2010 to 2020 through the grant program “Our Town” and ArtPlace America to fund collaborative projects between local governments and arts organizations. We will examine what makes creative placemaking successful, its outcomes, benefits, challenges, and how this theme of belonging poignantly touches each aspect. 

A series of elements determine the success of creative placemaking which begins with the initiations of an individual with an idea and their drive to make that idea a reality. Other elements that propel success are a tailored regional strategy, mobilization of public will, buy-in from the private sector, support of local arts and culture, and partnerships linking across various sectors of the economy. These puzzle pieces can form unequivocal benefits from economic development to livability to competitive advantages. Economic developments can manifest as industrial spaces being repurposed such as Buffalo’s Mayor transforming a vacant auto plant into artist studios and housing. It can also expand the entrepreneurial ranks of artists through efforts like Nibble in Boston who reduced barriers to entry for immigrant chefs to set down roots through the chronicling of stories, sharing recipes, and “spreading the word” about local talent. Not only this but there’s potential for training the next generation of cultural workers through efforts like the Sweet Water Foundation in Chicago which reinvests in human infrastructure by teaching the fundamentals of science, agriculture, design, and carpentry. Livability piggybacks off these constructive economic developments for when the economy flourishes, the environment can as well. Community identity, affordable housing, collaboration between diverse partners, and even reliable transportation can blossom as a result. With all this activity, there is bound to be creative innovation and a competitive advantage that attracts talent as Silicon Valley did when engineers departed the east coast for the west.

At another level, mutual benefits between artists and the community are forged when creative placemaking’s design is thoughtfully and deliberately executed. Arts and the non-arts individuals and industries share an interdependent relationship to support each other and expand the lens in which we see the community. The project “My Park, My Pool, My City” in Austin is an example where the city’s partnership with Forklift Danceworks created a participatory performance involving old community pools to reshape how the community relates to this space. North Dakota’s “Fargo Project” is another example where an eighteen-acre water collection basin was transformed by environmental artist Jackie Brookner into a “World Garden Commons” so residents could connect to this pocket of seemingly unattractive land. Then, there’s New York’s Highline—an old stretch of railway reimagined into a lush wild garden by the Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf—that reframed the perspective of how New Yorkers and visitors experience and see the city.

These creative placemaking projects were designed carefully and to rise to success—potential challenges had to be addressed and defined to avoid potential risks. One of the crucial issues to any creative placemaking endeavor is gentrification—when wealthy households move into a lower income region—which can result in the displacement of homeowners, renters, and businesses. The case of Atlanta’s Beltline had noble intentions for its rail system to connect residents and increase the city’s allure but unfortunately ended with the displacement of members of the BIPOC community. Beltline’s inception proved detrimental with rising property taxes and rents without sufficiently offsetting the consequences with affordable housing. According to Bedoya and Markusen, methods to avoid displacement and inequality can be achieved through rent control, housing projects, and community land trusts to de-marketize housing, retail, and cultural properties to prevent private ownership. Other challenges to consider in designing creative placemaking are shrinking budgets, the risk aversion of banks, zoning ordinances, and school art programs being cut due to lack of funding. Each of these constituents involves an emotionally philosophical meaning around belonging that’s profoundly human. Artists and community members feel belonging to their regions and creative placemaking can either make that sense of belonging impregnable or dismantle it into a shadow of the culture it once was. Marginalization of artists, such as Shanghai’s Grand Theater programming showcasing western performances like Beauty and the Beast and Mama Mia instead of uniquely Chinese theater, can erode culture rather than fortify it. Excessive commercialization can also marginalize artists as was the case with the success of Moganshan Lu housing contemporary Chinese artists. This can inevitably create dis-belonging at the artist level but also the community for it is culture that—at an intrinsic depth—sculpts the regional identity that we so heartfully desire and do belong to.

Sources

Markusen, A. and Gadwa, A. (2010). Creative Placemaking. Mayor’s Institute on City Design. National Endowment for the Arts. Washington, D.C. 

Markusen, A. and Gadwa Nicodemus, A. (2020). Arts and the city: Policy and its implementation. Built Environment, 46(2), 250-266.

Kong, L. (2009). Making sustainable creative/cultural space in Shanghai and Singapore. The Geographical Review, 91(1), 1-22.Download Kong, L. (2009). Making sustainable creative/cultural space in Shanghai and Singapore. The Geographical Review, 91(1), 1-22.

Anderson, J. A. (2019, June 10th). How the creative placemaking tide lifts all community boats. NextCity.

Immergluck, D. (2023, January 25th). Atlanta’s BeltLine shows how urban parks can drive “green gentrification.” The Conversation.

Elevated Thinking: The High Line in New York City. (2014). Great Museums. American Public Television. Boston, MA.