2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land - 83

A multipurpose room inside the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling. The museum is housed on the street
level and lower level of an affordable housing high-rise in New York's Harlem neighborhood.
Thornton. " And while we welcome newcomers,
we are committed to retaining a
diverse, inclusive, vibrant community. "
3. " What's in it for me? "
Articulating the stakeholder benefits
of any project comes down to WIIFM:
what's in it for me? Because perceived
benefits vary, each party's wants and
needs should be addressed as early
as possible. For example, the community
may be more interested in the
cultural aspects of a placemaking project,
whereas developers may be more
focused on retail leasing. When done
properly, though, the WIIFM process can
facilitate early support and collaboration,
and help move a project forward along
social, economical, health, and environmental
lines.
Bethlehem SteelStacks in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, is a prime example of such
mutual collaboration. The century-old
former steel plant is now a sprawling art
and entertainment complex. The economic
benefit to the city from this oncedilapidated
structure has grown annually-$123
million in 2023. That would
seem enough incentive to garner community
support, but many residents still
lamented the factory's closing and didn't
want to see that legacy erased. So, that
story was preserved through the design,
with historical markers and an elevated
walking path from which visitors can
overlook the old steelworks.
Cleveland, Ohio's historically black
Hough neighborhood endured neglect
for decades. Recent investments and
concerns around preserving the Hough
culture and keeping its people in place
led the city to sponsor a Technical Assistance
Panel in 2023, enabled through
ULI Cleveland District Council's participation
as a cohort in ULI's Art in Place program.
TAP recruited a multidisciplinary
team of panelists, including real estate
professionals and artists, who studied the
Hough area and interviewed residents,
leaders of local businesses (including
real estate), and city officials. The panel
developed a set of recommendations
that appealed to all Hough stakeholders,
including displacement avoidance initiatives,
workforce development, developer
incentives, and the creation of a Black
arts district to celebrate a rich history.
Marching forward
The primary reason to take best practices
in creative placemaking seriously is
its proven ability to enhance real estate
project value by ensuring a vibrant,
healthy, sustainable place where people
want to live, work, and play. Although all
10 best practices are important, the trio
here constitutes the most essential ones
to optimize that value. By using leading
best practices in creative placemaking,
any public project can be a successful
model worthy of emulation.
Featured research includes:
Toronto Metropolitan University's
2023 study on the importance of art,
culture, and community engagement in
creating the most value, especially when
done early in the design process.
NINE dot ARTS, a private consulting
firm, emphasized in its 2023 State of the
Art Report the transformative power of
art, culture, and community engagement
in shaping vibrant and sustainable public
places.
Volume 3 of The Place Economy,
published by Australia-based Hoyne,
has 80-plus essays about place, including
discussions of art and community
engagement, and how to use them to
achieve vibrant and inclusive places. UL
JUANITA HARDY, former ULI senior visiting fellow
for creative placemaking, now serves ULI as an advisor on
creative placemaking. She is author of ULI's 2022 publication
" Creative Placemaking: Recommendations from and
Impact of Six Advisory Services Panels. "
SUMMER 202 4
URBAN LAND
83
INDUSTRY VOICES
JUANITA HARDY

2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land