Toward understanding creative placemaking in a socio-political context

The 21st century has been witness to significant changes in technology and individual behavior, yet despite those changes we still look to traditional forms of political engagement to explain contemporary political phenomena. This project explores a new form of associational behavior: creative placemaking. Driven by the work of urban and community planners, creative placemaking seeks to activate a public-facing space through the deliberate actions of people in a built environment. With interviews of 24 individuals in the greater Cincinnati area we explore the nature of creative placemaking using the tools of social science. Our inquiry is focused on distilling how these individuals define placemaking and the outcomes and implications of that behavior. Interviewees consistently highlight goal-oriented placemaking and projects deemed “authentic” for the neighborhoods of focus with significant emphasis placed on participation, connections, and pride in one's community. Our study also finds that placemaking is not an exclusively urban phenomenon, with placemaking events taking place well outside Cincinnati's urban counties. And while policy can be a roadblock for placemaking, it is not insurmountable. In sum, this project begins to answer important research questions about engagement in the 21st century while elucidating a robust research agenda.