Passageways 2.0 transforms a 6,200 square foot alleyway in the core of Downtown Chattanooga. City Thread, a series of simple steel tubes, creates a space that extends our attitude of adventure. By its geometry, the project possesses many potential settings including lounging, mini-stages, framing for art, concerts, markets, movie screenings, and more. The design is intended to allow casual users and those in charge of programming to discover different ways to utilize the alley.
Public Art
Sub Categories: Public Art
Coxe Avenue Complete Street Demonstration Project
The project was initiated to accelerate mobility improvements to a developing corridor in an Asheville neighborhood. Coxe Avenue formerly contained a high density of automotive uses but is now the site of mixed-use developments and dining options. The project involved a public engagement process, held on a compressed timeline. The design features a shared-use path and an intersection mural. The final installation includes eight new crosswalks, a multi-use path, and the 6,000 sq. ft. mural.
The Urban Backyard Project
The Urban Backyard Project is a series of vinyl wraps covering existing Los Angeles Department of Transportation signal cabinets. Building off similar public art programs, the wraps display wayfinding information including directional signage, maps, points of interest, and walking distances. Because of the low cost of installation, as the neighborhood changes individual panels will be updated and replaced, allowing the project to provide updated pedestrian wayfinding in a changing environment.
She Tempe
In an effort to revitalize and refresh the district’s street-level appearance, the Downtown Tempe Authority (DTA) decided to wrap the fourteen news racks throughout the downtown district in works of art. Eleven local female artists were asked to submit works that portrayed females. This project celebrates local creative talent, enhances a sense of place and helps create an engaging and vibrant pedestrian experience in Downtown Tempe.
50th Annual Fall Tempe Festival of the Arts
This 3-day art festival takes place in the streets of Downtown a.k.a. the heart of Tempe. A .42-mile radius that spans from one of few Arizona reservoirs, Tempe Town Lake, to University Drive bordering the Arizona State University campus. One of our organization’s goal is to curate diverse and impactful experiences that cultivate community engagement, which is a major factor in why the Downtown Tempe BID produces the Tempe Festival of the Arts in-house.
555 Monroe North Park
The City of Grand Rapids received a grant to purchase a riverfront surface parking lot and sought out Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.’s assistance with moving quickly to animate the space. Through the help of our citizen lead Alliance, the Business Association, local non-profits, 30+ volunteers and 40+ artists, we were able to activate the space with a quicker, cheaper approach using repurposed materials to create a new unique public space in our downtown that could be used year-round.
Downtown Durham Public Space Project
The Downtown Durham, Inc. Public Space Project is an activation project focused on retaining and supporting the creative and artistic cultures of Durham and upholding public spaces of convergence. The Public Space Project is a re-granting program that provides funding to individuals and organizations who bring temporary, creative, free of charge experiences to downtown Durham’s public spaces.
Activate Houston Street
Activate Houston Street is an initiative tasked with the goal of creating a placemaking action plan for the downtown Houston Street corridor, a once-bustling retail and pedestrian thoroughfare negatively impacted by the loss of the savings and loans industry and suburban sprawl. Turning Houston Street into an active destination that encourages people to experience its uniqueness and vibrancy will transition it from a corridor you pass by to one visitors and locals will go to and stay.
Umbrella Sky
Umbrella Sky is an art concept from Sextafeira Productions, a creative design company based in Portugal. There were two major components of the project, the colorful umbrellas and two large truss systems which were used to hang the umbrellas above Giralda Plaza. The Umbrella Sky project was a resounding success. An Instagram phenomenon, the city received global recognition and publicity through multiple channels, with especially strong results on social and digital media.
Natasha Moraga Master Talk
Transforming the dull gray spaces of Puerto Vallarta into open-air galleries, urban artist Natasha Moraga makes mosaic look easy. With over 10 years as the visionary and artistic director behind some of the city’s most iconic public artworks, she continues to inspire with her latest and biggest project yet – the transformation of her city’s main park, into a vibrant space filled with colored tiles and functional spaces, where community is an essential part of the project.
Alley Gallery
Alley Gallery is a program created by the Louisville Downtown Partnership (LDP) to bring under-recognized spaces back to life, enlivening dingy single and double metal service doors with artwork created by metro-area artists. More than 300 potential public and private doors in the target area are candidates for the program. Participating property owners are provided with access to a Dropbox featuring existing artwork by local artists from which to choose.
Stuart Mangrum Master Talk
A member of the Burning Man community since 1993, Stuart was one of the organization’s first year-round volunteers. In his current role he focuses on cultural development programs including public education, staff and volunteer training, and historical documentation. He is also deeply involved in the event’s creative direction, as co-author of the last three event themes and a collaborator in designing the Black Rock City experience.
Vanessa German Master Talk
Vanessa German is a visual and performance artist based in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Homewood, whose cast-off relics form the language of her copiously embellished sculptures. She is also the founder of Love Front Porch and the ARThouse, a community arts initiative for the children of her historic Homewood neighborhood.
Dumpster Art-Wrap Project
In March 2016, the Midtown Association partnered with local a property owner, a local artist, and trash hauler company Waste Management to introduce the first art-wrapped dumpster in Sacramento, CA. The pilot project also served to support the city and county’s ongoing efforts to reclaim public spaces while reducing blight and other negative activity related to dumpsters and alleyways. All of the dumpster art-wrap projects help promote collaboration among a diverse group of community members.
Art of the State: Leveraging Local Culture and Creativity
This session will present a snapshot of case studies that engage makers, artists and other creatives in downtown promotions, placemaking and development projects. Great Downtowns of all sizes are identified by their cultural environment. We will explore how both large and small investments in arts and creativity can return dividends that multiply.
DTLA IRL: A Pop Up Case Study
In December 2018, the Downtown Center BID launched DTLA // IRL a multi-faceted pop-up activation showcasing Downtown’s culture, community, and commerce. The project comprised three main elements: a visitor’s center, retail store, and event space, and served as a promotional vehicle for the Downtown retail market and a variety of local businesses, highlighting local art and culture, and engaging the local community of residents, workers, and visitors.
Downtown Rideau Mural Boxes Art Exhibit Tour
Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Area (DRBIA), in partnership with the City of Ottawa, expanded an initiative initially designed by the city as a project to reduce graffiti removal maintenance costs on utility boxes by vinyl wrapping them in a transit motif design. The D.R.B.I.A took the initiative to an entirely different level by building on its brand as Ottawa’s Arts, Fashion & Theatre District and turning the utility boxes into original works of art.
More Awesome Now Laneway Project
The people of downtown Vancouver wanted a connected series of activated alleyways that are welcoming spaces with hidden gems to discover galleries, restaurants, and art walls. Between April 2016 and September 2016, DVBIA worked with the city to obtain permits, developed partner agreements, did construction, and launched the laneway. The More Awesome Now Laneway project was referenced in city council’s approach to creating a new places and spaces strategy for downtown.
First Wednesday Art Walk
For the past 13 years, Downtown Vision Inc. (DVI) has produced the First Wednesday Art Walk in the heart of Downtown Jacksonville. This innovative event acts as an economic development tool supporting downtown merchants and cultural entities while improving the vitality of downtown through the arts. With more than 10,000 people participating each month, Art Walk has grown into a treasured street festival, one that is constantly reimagined to mirror the diversity of Jacksonville.
Magma: The Mural
Uptown is a unique area in Auckland, that includes 3 arterial roads, and encompasses four distinct suburbs. It became a major focus for Uptown to create a sense of place’ and cohesion, while bringing some color and life into the area. In the heart of Uptown is a water reservoir that presents a large concrete facade, and the ideal space to create a piece of vibrant, colorful artwork to provoke some much-needed connection, conversation, and engagement with the area.
Art Route DSM
Art Route DSM, a partnership of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and several businesses and community development organizations, launched in 2016 with additional art installations in 2017 to create a unique artistic and educational experience. Art Route DSM unites pieces of public art to easy access paths via artful city walkways.
Year of Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Avenue has long served as the State’s civic and cultural “Main Street.” In spite of a recent resurgence of private investment within 16 of the Avenue’s most prominent properties, the corridor lacked the pedestrian-level vibrancy that peer-cities exude. That is, until the summer of 2017. Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21 declared 2017 “The Year of Wisconsin Avenue,” with a series of public art and quality-of-life initiatives that reshaped the Avenue as the community living room.
Dundas Roncesvalles Peace Garden, Toronto
The site of the Dundas Roncesvalles Peace Garden (DRPG) was previously a concrete promontory jutting into the wide, busy intersection of Dundas Street and Roncesvalles Avenue. The site was broadly disliked by pedestrians who often dashed, unsafely across the road to get away from blazing heat in the summer or windswept barrens in winter. The Roncesvalles Village Business Improvement Area (RVBIA) was able to fund the DRPG project through strategic partnerships.
Things Are Looking Up: BLINK Backstage in Downtown Cincinnati
In October 2017, downtown Cincinnati saw itself with new eyes during the inaugural BLINK light and art festival. The four-day, free event was one of the largest light and art events in the nation, featuring 57 large-scale light installations projected onto iconic buildings and landmarks throughout 20 city blocks. Over one million visitors came to see BLINK, an event that showcased the city’s revitalized urban core, celebrated its historic architecture, and drove record setting traffic downtown.
Fancy Animal Carnival
Five sculptures were installed in DowntownDC from May 4-Oct. 5, 2017. Each giant animal sculpture was adorned with Taiwanese symbols and motifs which created painted patterns that reflected folk culture and religion as well as the artist’s personal experiences and observations. The BID created an online walking tour of the animals, identifying each location via a map and designed an aesthetically- pleasing way to showcase the animals and offer details about each sculpture.
Nuart Aberdeen
Nuart Aberdeen is an internationally acclaimed, multi-award winning street art festival that premiered in Aberdeen in April 2017. The festival was delivered through developing a close collaborative approach with Nuart in Stavanger, Norway where it began in 2001 and is widely considered to be the world’s premier celebration of Street Art among its peers. Nuart Aberdeen was delivered by Aberdeen Inspired, the Business Improvement District (BID) organization.
Top Issues Council: From Dumpsters to Biergartens
This publication looks at the placemaking of “interstitial” spaces the connective tissue that lies between private developments and developed public spaces within the urban built environment. The perception of how we can make use of space is changing as cities strive to reclaim these in-between areas. Drawing on ideas from neighbors, businesses and community groups, UPMOs can implement physical interventions that revitalize and activate what would otherwise be a forgotten space.
Top Issues Council: Activating Public Spaces – A Guildebook for Urban Districts
The purpose of this guidebook is to identify fundamental challenges that downtown stakeholders encounter when they undertake placemaking efforts to activate public spaces, as well as innovate solutions to these challenges. This guidebook uses real world examples to analyze challenges and solutions to downtown placemaking initiatives in terms of their design, maintenance, funding, and regulation.
GSA Federal Courthouse / Civic Center Mall Toledo Advisory Panel: Making a Place
IDA’s Advisory Panels are a time-tested way to explore new ideas, solve difficult problems, and rally the board, staff and community around priority projects or topics. In this instance the panel was tasked with assessing the “sad, tired, and dismal” Civic Center Mall and determining whether the formation of a place management organization would be beneficial. The report details the panel’s findings and recommendations.
City of Tulsa Advisory Panel: How to Bring Bustle to Downtown
IDA’s Advisory Panels are a time-tested way to explore new ideas, solve difficult problems, and rally the board, staff and community around priority projects or topics. This panel was asked to assess the downtown’s on-the-street activity, street level offerings, and the governance and partnerships managing the downtown area. The report details the panel’s findings and recommendations.
Place Branding Top Issues Council: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
More than merely marketing campaigns, Place Branding explores the features that make your downtown or urban space unique among others: those quirky spaces and interesting places that define your urban experience. The best practices, lessons learned, and surprising tips can assist planners in defining strategies for physical manifestations of their community’s cultures in public spaces.
Centro San Antonio Advisory Panel: Activate Houston Street
IDA’s Advisory Panels are a time-tested way to explore new ideas, solve difficult problems, and rally the board, staff and community around priority projects or topics. This panel was focused on creating a revitalized vision for the Houston Street Corridor. The panel created an outline of strategies and initiatives to revitalize the corridor. The report details the panel’s findings and recommendations. The report details the panel’s findings and recommendations.
Hidden Treasures and Neglected Spaces
Public space and alley activation are the hot new topics in the place management industry. This presentation shows how different districts are activating their neglected public spaces and alleys and incorporating art.
Mastering the Art of Bringing Low-Cost Rapid Change Downtown
There is an international trend of low-cost interventions being used to test out ideas before making large capital improvements. Pop-up parks, guerilla wayfinding, and mobile vendors are just a few innovations. During this session you will learn about tactical urbanism projects from successful communities internationally.
Public Art: Balancing Artistic Integrity with Institutional Needs
Downtown organizations are playing a greater role as patrons of public art in an era of declining arts funding. Come discuss the challenges and opportunities in institutionalizing robust, independent arts programs around the world.
Setting the Future of Retail Downtown
This session will demonstrate importance and necessity for business improvement organizations to provide ongoing support to the retail sector. A case study will be presented from Iowa City detailing two very different two programs: infrastructure and marketing.
Teaming Up To Clean Up
Teaming Up To Clean Up showcases partnerships with local stakeholders to clean and beautify their cities. Best practices include businesses and communities working together to improve storefronts, and reduce graffiti and litter while focusing on cigarette litter, recycling, and needle waste. Case studies in this presentation show how organizations can achieve best practices in maintaining cleanliness and building vibrancy in urban settings.