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.

 

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  • 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
You are here: Home / Our Eight Approaches / Leveraging Cultural Districts and Corridors / Go Deeper

Go Deeper

Cultural district strategies large and small

There are strategies at a variety of scales;

Identifying districts: Sidewalk kiosks, street sign caps, custom crosswalk paintings, and pole banners can announce a district to the public.

Installing wayfinding: Incorporating cultural spaces and destinations on a map or branding individual buildings can give people a reason to follow the map or go inside.

Supporting busking and plein air painting: Welcoming musicians and street performers and people who paint landscapes on site can remind residents and visitors that a neighborhood is vibrant and arts-friendly. Turning vacant space into galleries: Exhibiting art works in vacant storefront spaces is an easy way to turn an eyesore into an asset.

Expert resources on cultural districts

The Americans for the Arts National Cultural District Exchange

This exchange offers a one-stop shop on cultural districts, from learning about different types to making one a reality in your community. We recommend starting with their cultural district basics page and checking out the video of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore, Maryland discussing the success of the city in its three cultural districts., From there, you can view case studies and find all of the information you would need, from planning and programming to securing funding and passing enabling legislation.

The National Endowment for the Arts’ OurTown Portal

Cultural districts are a popular strategy funded by the NEA’s OurTown Program. Read examples and case studies on the Cultural District Planning section. Be sure to check out Station North, one of Baltimore’s cultural districts which specifically sought to capture transit riders who might not otherwise leave the station, and in the process transformed a once-blighted area into a cultural destination.

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Eight approaches to creative placemaking

Develop Local Leadership & Capacity

Menu: Eight Approaches

  • 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

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Master Cultural Planning

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Identify the Community’s Assets and Strengths

Identifying the existing arts and cultural assets — whether places, people, artists, groups or institutions — provides local leaders with invaluable opportunities to build powerful relationships in … Read More...

Leveraging Cultural Districts and Corridors

A cultural district is a labeled area of a city in which a high concentration of cultural facilities and programs serve as the main anchor of attraction and are marketed together. This is one of the … Read More...

Mobilize the Community to Achieve Your Shared Goals

Local units of government can tap local nonprofits or area organizations to identify and showcase support for projects or related community improvements. Who can do it: Metropolitan planning … Read More...

Develop Local Leadership & Capacity

Support community-led visions and let the community work for you Local nonprofits can use arts-based tools to bring attention to and build momentum for desired plans, projects and development … Read More...

Organize Events and Activities

Events and activities provide a draw and bring positive attention to an area. And they can also be a forum for gathering new ideas and public involvement. Who can do it: Local units of government … Read More...

Incorporate Arts in Public and Advisory Meetings

Almost nothing gets built today without some level of public engagement and most large-scale planning efforts engage the public to some degree. But whether this input is truly inclusive, timely or … Read More...

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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.

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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.

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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.