A


rt was once dismissed by city planners and community activists as a frill—a “nice-to- have,” perhaps, but certainly not a “need-to- have,” a much lower priority than the serious business of saving neighborhoods, building affordable housing, and creating jobs.


But over the last decade, success stories like Philadel-


phia’s Village of Arts and Humanities, New York City’s High Line, and Indianapolis’s Cultural Trail have dem- onstrated that designing a space around the arts can yield returns far beyond the aesthetic. It’s an approach that planners call “creative placemak-


ing.” The term was popularized in a 2010 report for the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, an initiative led by the National Endowment for the Arts. In the report, re- searchers Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa Nicodemus


documented how incorporating local artists into the urban design process “animates public and private spaces, reju- venates structures and streetscapes, improves local busi- ness viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired.” Putting arts and culture at the center of revitalization strategies helps people imagine a better future for the place they live, says Ellen Ryan, creative placemaking program director at The Trust for Public Land. Though the term is recent, Ryan points out that the idea has existed for decades—and for good reason. “It’s not just the icing on the cake,” she says, quoting Maria Rosario Jackson of the Kresge Foundation. “It’s in the recipe for the batter of community change.” While researching for The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-It- Yourself Guide to Placemaking, I saw this change under way in


40 · LAND&PEOPLE · FALL/WINTER 2014


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