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🗿Public Art and Urban Design

🗿public art and urban design review

1.3 Key Concepts and Terminology

5 min readLast Updated on July 30, 2024

Public art and urban design shape our cities, creating meaningful spaces that reflect community values. Key concepts like placemaking, site-specificity, and community engagement are essential for creating impactful public art that resonates with people and enhances urban environments.

Understanding different types of public art, from monuments to installations, helps artists and designers create diverse works that engage audiences. Permanent, temporary, and ephemeral projects each offer unique ways to transform public spaces and spark conversations about our shared urban experiences.

Key Concepts in Public Art

Placemaking, Site-Specificity, and Community Engagement

Top images from around the web for Placemaking, Site-Specificity, and Community Engagement
Top images from around the web for Placemaking, Site-Specificity, and Community Engagement
  • Placemaking is a collaborative process that shapes the public realm to maximize shared value, strengthen the connection between people and places, and promote a community's unique identity and character
    • Involves actively engaging local stakeholders to create vibrant, inclusive, and meaningful public spaces (parks, plazas, streets)
    • Focuses on transforming underutilized or neglected areas into thriving community hubs
  • Site-specificity refers to the creation of art that is designed for and responsive to a particular location, taking into account its physical, historical, social, and cultural context
    • Artwork is conceptualized and executed with the unique characteristics and constraints of the site in mind (scale, materials, topography, climate)
    • Considers the site's history, community narratives, and cultural significance to create a context-sensitive work
  • Community engagement involves actively collaborating with local residents, stakeholders, and organizations throughout the public art process to ensure the artwork reflects the community's values, needs, and aspirations
    • Includes public workshops, surveys, interviews, and collaborative design sessions to gather input and foster a sense of ownership
    • Ensures the artwork is relevant, inclusive, and meaningful to the community it serves
  • Successful public art projects often combine placemaking, site-specificity, and community engagement to create meaningful, inclusive, and context-sensitive works that enhance the public realm and foster a sense of belonging
    • Example: The "Before I Die" project by Candy Chang, which transformed abandoned buildings in New Orleans into interactive public spaces where residents could share their hopes and dreams

Public Art Terminology

Types of Public Art

  • A monument is a structure, sculpture, or other type of public art created to commemorate a notable person, event, or idea, often serving as a landmark and a focal point within a public space
    • Typically large-scale, permanent, and made of durable materials (bronze, stone, concrete)
    • Examples: the Statue of Liberty (New York), the Lincoln Memorial (Washington D.C.)
  • A memorial is a type of monument designed to honor and remember individuals or groups who have died, typically in service to their country or community, or as a result of a tragic event
    • Often incorporates names, dates, and symbolic elements to convey a sense of loss, sacrifice, and remembrance
    • Examples: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Washington D.C.), the 9/11 Memorial (New York)
  • An installation is a form of public art that is often site-specific and may incorporate various media, such as sculpture, painting, light, sound, or video, to create an immersive and interactive experience for the viewer
    • Can be temporary or permanent, and may engage multiple senses to convey a concept or narrative
    • Examples: "The Gates" by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (Central Park, New York), "Rain Room" by Random International (various locations)
  • An intervention is a type of public art that disrupts or alters the existing urban environment, often through temporary or ephemeral actions, to challenge perceptions, provoke dialogue, or highlight social, political, or environmental issues
    • Can be performative, participatory, or guerrilla-style, and may involve unexpected or unconventional materials and tactics
    • Examples: "Flower Tower" by Banksy (London), "The Floating Piers" by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (Lake Iseo, Italy)

Public Art Project Types

Permanent, Temporary, and Ephemeral Projects

  • Permanent public art projects are designed to endure over an extended period, often becoming long-term fixtures within the urban landscape and requiring ongoing maintenance and conservation
    • Typically commissioned through a formal process and funded by public or private entities
    • Examples: "Cloud Gate" by Anish Kapoor (Chicago), "The Angel of the North" by Antony Gormley (Gateshead, England)
  • Temporary public art projects are created with a predetermined lifespan, ranging from a few days to several years, and are often used to activate public spaces, celebrate events, or explore evolving themes and ideas
    • Can be more experimental, responsive, and adaptable to changing contexts and audiences
    • Examples: "The Bay Lights" by Leo Villareal (San Francisco), "The Museum of the Moon" by Luke Jerram (various locations)
  • Ephemeral public art projects are short-lived, lasting only for a brief moment or a few hours, and may include performances, interventions, or works created with materials that naturally degrade or disappear over time
    • Often focus on the process, experience, and documentation rather than the creation of a lasting physical object
    • Examples: "Drawn in Light" by Janet Echelman (various locations), "Ice Watch" by Olafur Eliasson (various locations)
  • The choice between permanent, temporary, and ephemeral public art depends on factors such as the project's goals, budget, site constraints, community preferences, and the desired level of engagement and impact
    • Permanent projects may be preferred for creating enduring landmarks and fostering a sense of place
    • Temporary projects may be more suitable for addressing timely issues, engaging diverse audiences, and testing innovative ideas
    • Ephemeral projects may be effective in challenging perceptions, sparking dialogue, and leaving a lasting impression through shared experiences

Urban Design Terminology

Streetscape, Public Realm, and Urban Fabric

  • Streetscape refers to the visual and experiential character of a street, including elements such as sidewalks, street furniture, lighting, signage, landscaping, and adjacent building facades, which collectively shape the pedestrian experience and the street's identity
    • Considers factors such as walkability, safety, comfort, accessibility, and aesthetic appeal
    • Examples of streetscape elements: benches, bike racks, tree pits, wayfinding signs, pedestrian-scale lighting
  • The public realm encompasses all publicly accessible spaces within a city, such as streets, sidewalks, parks, plazas, and other open spaces, where social interaction, civic engagement, and community life take place
    • Includes both physical spaces and the activities and experiences they support
    • Examples of public realm spaces: town squares, waterfronts, pedestrian malls, community gardens
  • Urban fabric describes the physical and spatial structure of a city, including the pattern of streets, blocks, parcels, buildings, and open spaces that form the urban environment's overall character and morphology
    • Encompasses the arrangement, scale, density, and connectivity of urban elements
    • Examples of urban fabric patterns: grid, radial, organic, hierarchical
  • Understanding urban design terminology is crucial for public artists and designers to effectively analyze, interpret, and respond to the built environment, as well as to communicate their ideas and collaborate with other professionals in shaping the public realm
    • Helps in creating context-sensitive, human-centered, and sustainable public art interventions that enhance the quality of urban life
    • Facilitates cross-disciplinary collaboration and integrated approaches to urban design and public art


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© 2025 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.