Title: Regeneration of cultural quarters: public art for place image or place identity? In: Journal of Urban Design 11(2): 243-262.

Author(s): John McCarthy

Organisation(s): School of town and regional planning, University of Dundee

Categories: Arts, culture and regeneration

Objectives: To assess how public art is linked to local identity and/or image enhancement, with implications for the potential contribution of public art to wider aims for 'culture-led' regeneration.

Key Findings: The literature review shows that the linkage of public art and identity and/or image in order to bring about culture-led regeneration outcomes within cultural quarters is disputed and problematic both conceptually and in practice. Especially the objectives of promoting place image and enhancing local identity are seen as potentially contradictory, since the image that is projected may not necessarily reflect local identity. However, the case studies suggest that it is feasible to integrate these two objectives, and that public art can contribute significantly to culture-led regeneration in terms of the creation of a distinctive environment in cultural quarters that allows and encourages a creative milieu as well as development and investment, improves social cohesion and enhances quality of life for local people, and that the use of historical associations can provide a valuable means of linking public art with local identity.

Methods: Literature review into the contribution of public art to regeneration purposes; case studies of the provision of public art initiatives in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter and Manchester's Northern Quarter.