Art for art’s sake? Artists as partners in urban regeneration

Abstract

ABSTRACT Responding to the polarized view of artists either being displaced or co-opted in urban regeneration, this paper unveils a middle ground in which artists also act as partners or co-producers in these processes. We illustrate this intermediary role in property development processes with reference to a case study of the Seaport Innovation District in Boston by drawing upon a survey of resident artists and interviews with artists, planners, architects and economic development specialists. The paper makes two contributions to the literature. It offers a fresh look at the dialectical relationship between cultural and economic modes of production by more fully integrating consideration of artists’ sensibilities and practice with those of a host of built environment disciplinary practices including architects, planners and real estate developers. As a result, it extends extant analysis of urban regeneration-led gentrification from its urban planning, geography and sociology disciplinary roots into the disciplines of architecture and real estate. Our findings lead onto a research agenda centered on consideration of the intermediary roles played by creative and cultural sector actors and how creativity might be captured to positive effect, in the production of the built environment.