Can public art reverse urban decay?

December 1, 2011

American cities as diverse as Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Cleveland, have made significant investments over the last few decades in community-based art projects. A notable example is Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Project. Founded as the Anti-Graffiti Network in 1984 and reorganized in 1996, the project has created over 3,000 murals, generating a slew of tourist attractions. Artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, who have been celebrated for creating large-scale paintings in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, are the latest artists to join the Project. With support from the Knight Foundation, Koolhaas and Urhahn are creating several Philadelphia-based works, including a mural that will cover the facades of a stretch of houses along Germantown Avenue. These considerable investments by Philadelphia and other cities beg the question of whether arts projects, aside from their aesthetic value, will have lasting effects on the community.

Economist Ann Markusen and urban planner Anne Gadwa argued in their paper, “Creative Placemaking,” that city governments across the United States invested in cultural projects not only to beautify their cities but also to diversify the local economy. Based on an in-depth analysis of more than a dozen projects, the authors argued that successful investments in the arts share several features, such as funding from both public and private sectors, support from the general public, and embeddedness within the larger arts community.

Markusen and Gadwa identified Cleveland, Ohio, as an exemplary case of a successful fusion of the arts and urban renewal. Over the past decade, the city’s Gordon Square has been completely remodeled to revitalize several run-down theaters. The historic Capitol Theater was renovated with a combination of private and public funds. Several established theater groups and their owners joined with local nonprofit groups to lobby for the revitalization of Gordon Square. In a statistical analysis of employment data and money invested, Markusen and Gadwa argued that the $30 million investment created 643 new jobs and transformed a formerly neglected part of Cleveland into a destination for theater and entertainment.

Susan C. Seifert, director of the Social Impact of the Arts Project at the University of Pennsylvania, partnered with social historian Mark J. Stern to evaluate the connection between public art projects and neighborhood development. Relying on census data and data on membership in community arts organizations, they investigated community development in Philadelphia during the 1980s and 1990s. The authors found that neighborhoods in which arts organizations had a strong presence experienced economic revitalization during the 1980s. They argued that community arts organizations are also instrumental in helping to establish social networks that span across different neighborhoods.

The evidence for a connection between urban renewal and the arts is tenuous. Yet understanding whether arts investments can improve decaying neighborhoods and revitalize communities will be crucial as localities face ever-tightening budgets that threaten to cut funding for the arts nationwide.

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