Culture and Neighborhood Revitalization:

A framework for the emerging field of culture-based revitalization

Between 2006 and 2008, SIAP collaborated with The Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution, on an investigation of the creative sector’s potential contribution to neighborhood economic and community development.  The project was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. The staff of TRF challenged SIAP to identify how its research findings on the role of arts and culture in urban communities could be applied to the practice of place-making and revitalization, while we challenged TRF to redefine how they think about the creative sector.

One surprise outcome of the collaboration was TRF’s realization that it already had been investing in the cultural sector.  In fact, around 8 percent of its total portfolio consists of creative sector projects, including the Crane Arts Building discussed in the policy brief described below. 

Through the collaboration, TRF and SIAP arrived at a common perspective.  We agreed that today’s urban policy environment requires us to consider a wider range of “players” in the development of strategies and that the gap between policy-makers and practitioners has narrowed.  We agreed, as well, that an ecological approach that focuses on how different elements of the cultural sector interact in the process of place-making is the most productive starting point for the emerging field of culture-based revitalization.  Finally, we endorsed the need to integrate policy, research, and practice to advance this field.

The collaboration produced a critical review of the literature, a set of policy briefs, and a prospectus for community investment.

Critical Review of the Literature on Culture and Urban Revitalization

Culture and Urban Revitalization: A Harvest Document

Mark J. Stern and Susan C. Seifert                              
January 2007

This SIAP report serves as the foundation study for the TRF-SIAP collaboration and writings.  The Harvest provides an overview of the state-of-the-art research on culture and revitalization and a critical review of two relatively independent streams of literature on culture-based development—economic revitalization and community building. SIAP concludes by proposing an ecological model that recognizes the interdependency of the social and economic benefits of the arts as a guide to research, policy, and practice in the emerging field of culture-based revitalization.

Culture and Urban Revitalization: A Presentation

Mark J. Stern                             
June 2007

This presentation summarizes the key findings of the Harvest Document.

Policy Briefs

From Creative Economy to Creative Society

Susan C. Seifert and Mark J. Stern                             
January 2008

This brief uses a social policy lens to look at the impact and potential of the creative economy for urban neighborhoods. While the growth of the creative sector is helping to regenerate regional economies, it is also exacerbating economic inequality and social exclusion among urban residents. The brief reviews current trends and proposes a new model–a neighborhood-based creative economy–as a way to move the 21st century city toward shared prosperity and social integration.

Cultivating “Natural” Cultural Districts

Mark J. Stern and Susan C. Seifert                             
September 2007

This brief uses existing research on urban culture and community arts to make a case for culture-based revitalization from the bottom up. This brief highlights a particular kind of social network—the geographically-defined networks made possible by a density of cultural assets in particular neighborhoods. Because “natural” cultural districts evolve through the self-organized efforts of local players, the challenge for policy-makers is how to do sensitive social investment that maximizes community benefits.

Migrants, Communities, and Culture  

Mark J. Stern, Susan C. Seifert, and Domenic Vitiello                             
January 2008 

This brief uses the Philadelphia experience to explore whether culture can help engage new immigrants with other social institutions. A century ago, the settlement house movement used culture to link immigrants to opportunities in education, employment, and health care. Can the arts play a similar role in Philadelphia today? The brief looks at the role of migrant cultural expression in urban neighborhoods, existing institutional barriers, and how migrants’ adaptation to their social marginality is changing “mainstream” culture.

Crane Arts: Financing Artists’ Workspace

The Reinvestment Fund                             
August 2007

This brief discusses the conversion of an old factory into artist workspace and examines the project’s impact on the neighborhood and the arts community.

Prospectus for Community Investment

Creativity and Neighborhood Development: Strategies for Community Investment

Jeremy Nowak                             
December 2007

This TRF document argues that the intrinsic value of arts and culture can be a key ingredient in neighborhood revitalization by nurturing a wide range of local assets, building social capital and promoting entrepreneurial and civic growth. Nowak calls for investing in community-based creative activity to enhance its place-making role and potential. He recommends that investment focus on three areas: creativity, development and knowledge.

The Power of Place-making

Jeremy Nowak                             
December 2007

This document presents a summary of  “Creativity and Neighborhood Development: Strategies for Community Investment.”