Arts, Culture and Transportation: A Creative Placemaking Field Scan

Transportation for America (T4A) set out to examine how artists are contributing to solving today’s transportation challenges and to making the most of transportation opportunities. Building off previous research and writing for "The Scenic Route," the first step for this field scan was to conduct a literature review. T4A also interviewed 30 professionals representing the fields of art, arts administration, design, and transportation about the role that artists play or could play in addressing transportation challenges and opportunities. In addition to external interviews, members of T4A’s internal staff were interviewed, which is comprised of former elected officials, transportation officials from all levels of government, and experts on policy, planning, and advocacy. Their responses, along with the review and analysis of hundreds of art and transit projects, led to the formation of seven arts and culture typologies: explanations of how arts and culture contribute to transportation processes and outcomes: (1) Generating creative solutions for entrenched transportation problems. Arts and culture can help develop better projects that attract greater community support by imagining bold transportation solutions that are unconstrained by traditional processes. (2) Making streets safer for all users. Arts and culture can make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists by using creative methods to help transportation professionals empathize with all users. (3) Organizing transportation advocates. Arts and culture can help equip communities to organize and advocate for more equitably distributed transportation investments. (4) Engaging multiple stakeholders for an inclusive process. Arts and culture can help shepherd transportation projects through the community input process more quickly and smoothly by facilitating meaningful participation early and often in the planning process. (5) Fostering local ownership. Arts and culture can help accomplish local goals including improving health, encouraging walking and biking, or increasing transit ridership by incorporating community-sourced artistic and design elements into transportation projects to foster local stewardship and use. (6) Alleviating the disruptive effects of construction. Arts and culture can help overcome the disruption of construction and mitigate the impact on businesses, residents, and visitors by using artistic interventions to create a more accessible and inviting environment. (7) Healing wounds and divisions. Arts and culture can help remedy the divisions created by urban highways and other detrimental transportation infrastructure by physically and culturally reconnecting communities. For each of the seven typologies, a few short examples and a longer case study are included.

• Record URL:
  http://t4america.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Arts-Culture-Field-Scan.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © September 2017. Smart Growth America / ArtPlace America, LLC.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation for America

  Washington, DC  United States 

  ArtPlace America

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Stone, Ben
  • Nezam, Mallory
• Publication Date: 2017-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Glossary; Photos; References;
• Pagination: 54p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Art; Case studies; Communities; Construction projects; Culture (Social sciences); Design; Literature reviews; Quality of life; Stakeholders; Transportation
• Subject Areas: Design; Society; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01648464
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 16 2017 10:47AM