THE SCENIC ROUTE

Getting Started with Creative Placemaking

Our Eight Approaches

Great places rely on good infrastructure combined with a meaningful mix of programming, public spaces and diverse economic opportunity for the people who then inhabit and bring them to life. The eight approaches outlined below represent proven avenues to improve partnerships while better knitting together all of the above.

By using these approaches for tapping into the social networks built around arts and culture, you can earn the trust of your community. By identifying sites of cultural significance, you can be mindful and inclusive of them in planning infrastructure and redevelopment projects.

In The Scenic Route, we outline eight basic approaches to creative placemaking to help you get started. Each approach consists of three things: an intro page with some basic information about the approach, a section called “Get Inspired: Local Examples” that typically provides at least one local, concrete example to provide some inspiration, and a section called “Go Deeper” which provides more detailed resources. The eight approaches we unpack in this resource below are not a linear list, nor do they represent the limit of what’s possible for you and your region or community.

Click on any approach below to jump right in.

 

Share this:

  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • Tumblr
  • LinkedIn
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed a turpis nec velit blandit sollicitudin. Donec lacinia, ligula quis ultrices sagittis, augue nisi.”
  • What is Creative Placemaking?
    • A View From the Field
  • Start Here
    • New tools for a new era
    • What are the benefits?
    • What makes creative placemaking different?
    • Where did creative placemaking come from?
    • Development without displacement
    • How do I do it?
  • Our Eight Approaches
    • Identify the Community’s Assets
      • Get Inspired: Local Examples
      • Go Deeper
    • Integrate the Arts Into Design, Construction and Engineering
      • Get Inspired: Local Examples
      • Go Deeper
    • Marketing to Cultivate Ownership and Pride
      • Get Inspired: Local Examples
      • Go Deeper
    • Leveraging Cultural Districts and Corridors
      • Get Inspired: Local Examples
      • Go Deeper
    • Mobilize the Community to Achieve Your Shared Goals
      • Get Inspired: Local Examples
      • Go Deeper
    • Develop Local Leadership
      • Get Inspired: Local Examples
      • Go Deeper
    • Organize Events and Activities
      • Get Inspired: Local Examples
      • Go Deeper
    • Incorporate Arts in Public and Advisory Meetings
      • Get Inspired: Local Examples
  • Placemaking in Practice
    • The Green Line (Twin Cities)
      • Grassroots efforts transformed the project
      • How arts improved the construction process
      • Building identity with light rail stations
      • The Green Line altered the rules of engagement
      • Conclusion: Better projects and places
    • Los Angeles
    • Detroit
    • San Diego
    • Portland
    • Nashville
  • Featured Places
  • Appendix
    • Appendix – Measurement in practice
  • Getting Started with this Guide

    Getting started with creative placemaking in transportation? Begin here with a short introduction from our director and information about how to use this guide.

  • What is Creative Placemaking?

    It’s an approach that deeply engages the arts, culture, and creativity in planning and designing transportation projects to better reflect and celebrate local culture, heritage and values.

Read a Featured Approach

Develop Local Leadership & Capacity

Local nonprofits can use arts-based tools to bring attention to and build momentum for desired plans, projects and development efforts.

Get Inspired: Local Examples

Detroit – Using arts to better understand transportation challenges

To provide decisionmakers with a better understanding of the lived experience of transit users, a local group partnered with the Detroit MPO to gather stories of where regular transit users need to go and the challenges they face in using transit.

Watch a Featured Video

Oakland Youth Hip-Hopera for BRT

When regional leaders planned a new BRT system in Oakland, CA local organizations got creative getting the word out.

About Us

Transportation for America

Transportation for America is an alliance of elected, business and civic leaders from communities across the country, united to ensure that states and the federal government step up to invest in smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions — because these are the investments that hold the key to our future economic prosperity.

t4america.org

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Thank You

This report was made possible through the generous support of the Kresge Foundation.

The Kresge Foundation “focuses on the role arts and culture play in re-energizing the communities that have long been central to America’s social and economic life,” believing that “arts and culture are an integral part of life and, when embedded in cross-sector revitalization activity, can contribute to positive and enduring economic, physical, social and cultural change in communities.” Kresge also supported projects detailed in this report in Nashville, Portland, San Diego and Detroit.

Sign up for updates

Sign up to receive future information on creative placemaking and other email updates from T4America. All fields are required.

Copyright © 2025 Transportation for America. All Rights Reserved.
Website Design by Weirdesign. Custom WordPress theme by Logical Things.

Visit the new version of the Scenic Route!

Visit our new updated, refreshed, and re-conceived version of The Scenic Route at http://transportation.art, released in April 2021. We revisited and updated many of the stories in this old version, in addition to adding brand new profiles and stories about more recent developments. (Nothing worth reading here has been excluded from the new version!) Check it out!

This older Scenic Route guide (v. 1.0) will be eventually retired, though still available for archival purposes.