The Mayors’ Institute on City Design releases “Creative Placemaking” Report

From the National Endowment for the Arts:

Washington, DC—National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman, U.S. Conference of Mayors Executive Director and CEO Tom Cochran, and American Architectural Foundation President and CEO Ron Bogle are pleased to announce the Mayors’ Institute on City Design’s (MICD) most recent publication, Creative Placemaking by Dr. Ann Markusen, principal of Markusen Economic Research Services, and Anne Gadwa, principal with Metris Arts Consulting.

Creative Placemaking is a resource for mayors, arts organizations, the philanthropic sector, and others interested in understanding strategies for leveraging the arts to help shape and revitalize the physical, social, and economic character of neighborhoods, cities, and towns.

In the words of the report, “Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired.”

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said, “Dr. Markusen’s report lays out the elements, benefits, challenges, and how-tos of using the arts in smart and sustainable community design. Art works across America to help shape communities where residents want to live, work, and play.”

Burnsville (MN) Mayor and U.S. Conference of Mayors President Elizabeth Kautz said, “As a mayor who has supported efforts to stimulate my city’s economy through creative placemaking techniques, I believe this report will be valuable to mayors who want to learn about best practices that have worked in other cities that promote the arts and economic development."

Since 1986, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities. MICD organizes sessions where mayors engage leading design experts to find solutions to the most critical urban design challenges facing their cities. Sessions are organized around case-study problems. Each mayor presents a problem from his or her city for the other mayors and designers to discuss.

Creative placemaking is one of the tools that mayors can use to tackle their design challenges, whether it is building artist live/work spaces in abandoned warehouses, designing youth employment programs around mentoring relationships with artists, or curating a performing arts series in urban public places.

“Urban design is one of the tools mayors have used to create the environment for creative businesses to grow. The National Endowment for the Arts support of the Mayors Institute of City Design program for the past 25 years has been critical in allowing mayors to create opportunities for arts and cultural enterprises to flourish,” said Charleston (SC) Mayor Joe Riley, who founded the Mayors' Institute on City Design.

Ron Bogle with the American Architectural Foundation notes, “AAF advocates for the power of the arts and design to transform communities. Dr. Markusen's report gives significant validity to this claim and inspires mayors and other civic leaders to incorporate design as a key driver for community development and an integral component in their leadership portfolios. “

“Mayors ‘get it’ when it comes to creative placemaking. As shown in this report, there are a number of examples where mayors have led the way in using the arts to rejuvenate neighborhoods and spark business development, “ said Tom Cochran, U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director.

Creative Placemaking features sections on the Challenges for creative placemaking such as clearing regulatory hurdles and developing evaluation metrics.

Components of successful projects including mobilizing public will and designing around distinctiveness.

Recommendations for integrating creative placemaking into public policies.

The report concludes with fourteen case studies from different communities across the country. Those case studies are:
• Art—A Rural Community’s Newest Crop: Arnaudville, Louisiana
• After Autos … Artists: Artspace Buffalo Lofts: Buffalo, New York
• After School Matters in Chicago, Illinois
• Community Developers Partner with Theaters: Cleveland, Ohio’s Gordon Square Arts District
• Art as Healing: Fond du Lac Reservation, Minnesota
• Art Shores Up the Walk of Fame: Remaking Los Angeles, California’s Hollywood
• Chasing Artists, Not Smokestacks: Paducah, Kentucky Artist Relocation Program
• Transforming Neighborhoods and Lives: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Mural Arts Program
• Animating Infrastructure: Phoenix, Arizona Public Art Program
• Building Community, Boosting Ridership: TriMet’s Interstate MAX Public Art Program: Portland, Oregon
• Mayors and Artists Spark a Renaissance: Providence, Rhode Island
• Marrying Art to Technology: 01SJ Biennial: San José, California
• Artists, the Third Leg of the Cultural Stool: Creative Entrepreneur Project, San José, California
• Unusual Bedfellows Transform the City of Music: Seattle, Washington

This report is available on the NEA’s website along with other arts and community design resources including:

• the MICD25 funding program. MICD25 grants were awarded in July 2010 to 22 organizations that used the arts in innovative ways to improve their neighborhoods.

• Research reports such as Live from Your Neighborhood: A National Study of Outdoor Arts Festivals The Arts and Civic Engagement.