The Arts and Urban Development

A special issue of Arts (ISSN 2076-0752).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2025) | Viewed by 2865

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
International Studies, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
Interests: art market studies; contemporary art; globalization; urban arts; urban development
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, a number of models for considering the significance of the arts for urban experience were elaborated and expanded, including Richard Florida’s idea of the “creative city”, as well as models of the notions of “creative industries”, which generate urban economic growth and measure the economic impact that arts institutions have on urban environments. While the notions of the contribution of the arts to metropolitan economies is not entirely new, a focus on placemaking and fostering artistic cultures in cities has resulted in the manifestation of these ideas, spreading them to a wide variety of urban forms around the world.

The goal of this Special Issue is to account for the impacts of these new developments, to consider which strategies for urban planning and development have emerged that bring the arts into the picture, and to think about how artists (visual, performing or otherwise) contribute to urban culture. New concepts such as “culture-led regeneration” are on the rise, but artists have been engaging the city in so many ways; it is important to account for both top-down, government- and developer-led initiatives, as well as the bottom-up initiatives of artists on the ground. This Special Issue welcomes investigations of the arts and urban development from a variety of fields and specializations, including those working in urban studies, considering manifestations of the visual and performing arts and affiliated institutions in the contemporary sense. How can we expand our comprehension of the way that the urban and artistic cultures intersect and the impacts that they might have on one another? As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, there is a need to assess the preservation of culture in the urban frame, but there is also much that artists and artist/activists can do to shape the cities of the future. This Special Issue aims to consider these dynamics and the multifarious outcomes that have and will emerge.

If you intend to submit work to this Special Issue, please send a 200-word abstract to John Zarobell () by December 31, 2024. Please note that there is a two-stage submission process. The editor will first collect abstracts of 200 words by December 31, 2024. By January 31, 2025, selected abstracts will be invited to submit full papers for peer review by June 30, 2025. Journal publication is expected in October 2025, depending on the revision time required after peer review.

Prof. Dr. John Zarobell
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Arts is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban arts
  • contemporary art
  • urban development
  • creative city
  • creative industries
  • culture-led regeneration
  • intangible cultural heritage

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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28 pages, 3104 KB  
Article
Artist-Led Regeneration in Polish Cities: Shaping Community Through Public Art
by Natalia Bursiewicz
Arts 2025, 14(5), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14050103 - 1 Sep 2025
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Abstract
This article discusses the role of artistic interventions in shaping communities in selected Polish cities. It especially explores marginalized urban areas that are gaining new identities through art. A crucial aspect of the analysis concentrates on the influence of artistic activities on the [...] Read more.
This article discusses the role of artistic interventions in shaping communities in selected Polish cities. It especially explores marginalized urban areas that are gaining new identities through art. A crucial aspect of the analysis concentrates on the influence of artistic activities on the formation of social bonds. Moreover, it focuses on the revitalization strategies that incorporate artistic activities designed to beautify spaces and enhance residents’ sense of security. It also includes examples of grassroots initiatives undertaken by artists in degraded areas. This study employed a qualitative methodology. In addition to reviewing the literature, a comparative analysis of case studies encompassing murals, site-specific installations, graffiti, and participatory art was conducted. The selected case studies demonstrate that art is not merely an esthetic endeavor but an important tool for solving spatial and social issues. Artists’ activities in difficult areas of a city lead to perceptual, visual, and functional changes. However, the question was whether the process of co-creation with the local community translated into stronger neighborly relationships or a greater sense of security. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Arts and Urban Development)
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18 pages, 2913 KB  
Article
At Home in Chinatown: Community-Based Art Activism and Cultural Placemaking for Neighborhood Stabilization
by Lily Song and Heang Leung Rubin
Arts 2025, 14(4), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040095 - 14 Aug 2025
Viewed by 413
Abstract
Since the turn of the 21st century, urban studies and planning research has examined the strategic role of artists, arts organizations, and cultural activity as local and regional economic development catalysts. This article shifts the spotlight from the “creative class” and “creative industries” [...] Read more.
Since the turn of the 21st century, urban studies and planning research has examined the strategic role of artists, arts organizations, and cultural activity as local and regional economic development catalysts. This article shifts the spotlight from the “creative class” and “creative industries” as drivers of a “creative city” to study the role of art, culture, and creative practices in community-led, place-based efforts to stabilize neighborhoods and advance more hopeful, healthy, and equitable urban futures. It explores Boston’s Chinatown, where community-based art activism has a long history of addressing critical issues such as reclaiming land taken by interstate highway and urban renewal projects, as well as combating gentrification and displacement through site activation. The case study focuses on Residence Lab, a community-based arts residency program initiated by the Pao Arts Center and the Asian Community Development Corporation that brought together multimedia artists with residents to collectively preserve Boston’s Chinatown through creative and artistic activation of underutilized sites in the neighborhood from 2019 to 2022. We examine a selection of ResLab projects, which give form and meaning to the struggles and aspirations of being at home in Chinatown and embody the art activism of partner organizations and program participants, along with the ResLab’s impacts on participating residents and artists. The concluding discussion considers ResLab’s contributions and implications for the shifting ways in which urban, political, and artistic cultures have intersected and impacted one another in Chinatown along with the relationship between collective action and the preservation and transformation of culture in the urban frame. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Arts and Urban Development)
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21 pages, 4375 KB  
Article
Navigating Class, Gender, and Urban Mobile Spaces: Dissecting Iranian Car Social Spaces in Cinematic Narratives
by Nasim Naghavi
Arts 2025, 14(3), 50; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030050 - 5 May 2025
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Abstract
This study scrutinizes the active role of mobile urban spaces in shaping and generating social space. It explores the depiction of car spaces in two Iranian films in their cinematic narratives, symbolic meanings, and influence on the perceptions of urban mobile space, often [...] Read more.
This study scrutinizes the active role of mobile urban spaces in shaping and generating social space. It explores the depiction of car spaces in two Iranian films in their cinematic narratives, symbolic meanings, and influence on the perceptions of urban mobile space, often referred to as third spaces in the urban studies literature. This interdisciplinary paper investigates the socio-cultural manifestations of the car interiors in two hybrid docufiction films: Ten, directed by Abbas Kiarostami, and Taxi, by Jafar Panahi. Built on the new mobilities paradigm’s perspective on the mobile space of cars wherein social space is inevitably produced and re-produced, this paper reveals the socio-cultural dynamics of the car space in the films’ representations. The car space produces subjectivities, exhibits socio-cultural foundations, offers a sense of belonging and place-making, and provides opportunities for informal social interactions, while embodying power dynamics. The central aim is to revise our conceptualizations of mobility spaces by examining spatial practices that revolve around the car spaces. The paper integrates cinematic representation as a resource for planners and social scientists to conceptualize mobility spaces, introducing diegetic cabinography filmmaking style. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Arts and Urban Development)
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Case Report
The Role of Art in the Revitalisation of Brownfield Sites—The Case of Nantes
by Iwona Szustakiewicz
Arts 2025, 14(4), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040097 - 18 Aug 2025
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Abstract
The article examines the role of art in the successful revitalisation of brownfield sites in Nantes. The city’s deindustrialization in the 1960s–80s caused a severe economic and social crisis. Significant areas were left behind by the abandoned factories, which were rapidly degrading, negatively [...] Read more.
The article examines the role of art in the successful revitalisation of brownfield sites in Nantes. The city’s deindustrialization in the 1960s–80s caused a severe economic and social crisis. Significant areas were left behind by the abandoned factories, which were rapidly degrading, negatively affecting the entire city. Many of these were located on a river island in the city centre. Since the early 1990s, the Nantes authorities initiated a process of revitalising brownfield sites. They implemented several culture-led regeneration strategies. Nantes opened up to temporary events: street theatre shows and art festivals. The flagship project and symbol of renewal became Les Machines de Île, mobile, interactive machines that took over the previously degraded island and hark back to its industrial past. Site-specific art installations filled the city. The municipal authorities also started to implement the concept of a creative cluster, concentrating art colleges, cultural facilities, and creativity-related businesses on former wasteland. The use of a variety of strategies brought success, and the results went beyond the revitalised area. Cultural activities became an accelerator of change and contributed to the regeneration process of the city. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Arts and Urban Development)
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