The Field Guide for Parks and Creative Placemaking
Creative placemaking is a cooperative, community-based process using arts and cultural expression to create or rejuvenate parks and open spaces, deepening a sense of place and inspiring community pride.
The Field Guide is organized into two broad sections: a “how-to” guide for strategizing and implementing a park-based creative placemaking project; and a set of eleven compelling case studies that demonstrate the breadth of this kind of community development.
This guide is intended to connect creative placemaking with parks and open spaces. It answers two important questions:
- What is creative placemaking?
- How does creative placemaking make for better parks and stronger communities?
The Field Guide attempts to answer these questions by demonstrating the power of creative placemaking to:
- Strengthen the role of parks and open space as an integrated part of comprehensive community development.
- Advance arts and culturally-based approaches to all phases of park-making, thereby creating social connections within and between communities.
- Foreground the role of parks as cultural products and important sites for civic gatherings and activity.
- Foster innovation, design excellence, and beauty in community parks and open spaces.
This guide is presented by The Trust for Public Land and City Parks Alliance, funded in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit TPL’s Creative Placemaking Guide page.
