Rotterdam’s Market Hall is a successful example of artists and real estate partners coming together to create an inspiring civic space. Many cities have quarters that are widely regarded as cool, but Rotterdam can claim, literally, to have a Cool District. Pronounced “coal” in Dutch, the district was a separate municipality from Rotterdam until 1816, and is now peppered with high-street stores and restaurants. (Shutterstock)
ULI’s Art in Place program has expanded with the addition of ULI France and ULI Germany, bringing the total number of participating district and national councils to eight. The program aims to connect artists, developers, and community voices to promote creative placemaking, which integrates art, culture, and creativity as levers of community revitalization.
Participating councils will organize a combination of local awareness-building events and technical assistance panels to engage artists, creative types, and real estate decision-makers to advance equitable outcomes, empower collective action, and repair the social fabric through the arts.
“This expansion is particularly fitting, given that the Art in Place idea germinated in Europe,” said Michael Spies, the project’s funder. “A decade ago, at a ULI event in Madrid, Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk highlighted the potential of leveraging networks of artists and multidisciplinary professionals to achieve effective community building. Her approach opened my eyes to the possibilities of ULI, the leading network of land use professionals worldwide, to drive more innovative development and greater impact by connecting artists and real estate professionals working in the same communities.”
Over the next 12 months, teams across the U.S., Hong Kong, and Europe will do just that by organizing a variety of events and activities to designed to meaningfully connect artists and real estate professionals.
“I am excited about the expansion of Art in Place to Europe. While European cities have a rich artistic heritage, they are affected by many of the same challenges reshaping post-pandemic urban life here in the US,” explains Juanita Hardy, ULI Creative Placemaking Fellow and senior project advisor. “Now is a critical moment for cities globally to breakdown the limits of justice and equity and spark a COVID-weakened economy. Our partners at ULI France and ULI Germany are exploring ways artists, developers, and communities can work together, leveraging art and culture, to reimagine places and foster more vibrant, sustainable, and healthy built environments.”
The global Art in Place cohort, along with their areas of focus, include:
- ULI Austin: Incorporating creative spaces in Austin’s existing and future developments.
- ULI Cleveland: Addressing historic inequities in community art funding and installation in Cleveland.
- ULI Colorado: Reimagining the Steamboat Springs Depot and railyard as a creative hub.
- ULI France: Leveraging existing programs to shape social projects that promote a culture of inclusion.
- ULI Germany: Exploring how to involve art and artists in private developments in more curated ways.
- ULI Hong Kong: Integrating art into real estate in Hong Kong.
- ULI Louisiana: Advancing relationships between local creatives and real estate leaders to support creative placemaking in Baton Rouge.
- ULI NW Arkansas: Spurring creative placemaking collaborations in the northwest Arkansas corridor, a historically culturally underserved region.
The lessons learned from this work will be shared across ULI’s network of district and national councils and the wider ULI membership. Art in Place is the next step in ULI’s ongoing commitment to Creative Placemaking (CPM) focused on the integration of art, culture, and creativity as levers of community revitalization and is made possible by the generous support of former Global Governing Trustee and ULI Foundation Julia Morgan Society member Michael Spies.
