A map of the Irrigate public arts locations.
The latest podcast is a conversation with Michael Fallon, executive director of the Minneapolis Television Network and a long-time arts writer in the Twin Cities. Michael has an article in the recently released issue of Public Art Review all about creative placemaking, one of the hottest ideas in urban design and public art. We met up last week at Sweeney’s Saloon on St Paul’s Dale Street to talk all about the history of the idea of place, some of the challenges of public art, and how concepts like creative placemaking can potentially become meaningless urban planning buzzwords.
The audio link is here, and you can subscribe on iTunes here.
If you have any feedback or ideas, can comment on streets dot em en, on twitter @streetsMN or email me at blindeke@gmail.com.
Somewhere in here you guys kind of asked: how can you measure placemaking? One of the features I think of a place with a sense of "place" is simply: can I tell where I am? Do I remember anything about the space? That's not so hard to measure. Show a person a picture of a bunch of random locations and see what they can recognize. Implement some placemaking, let it sink in for a year, and try again. Control against another somewhat similar neighborhood without intentional placemaking.