This summer, ULI released its report Creative Placemaking: Sparking Development with Arts and Culture. The report was created by ULI Fellows Kathleen McCormick, Marliee Utter, and Juanita Hardy. ULI Washington members may know Juanita through her engagement in our programing, such as the Placemaking Initiative Council. Work on the report began in 2016, with support from the Kresge foundation and a number of ULI District Councils. ULI Washington is proud to support this report alongside ULI Arizona, ULI Boston, ULI Charlotte, ULI Chicago, and ULI St. Louis.

The report describes the creative placemaking process as focused on the creation of a distinctive sense of place that is culturally rich, engaging, and economically thriving. Beyond definitions, the report also contextualizes the benefits of creative placemaking through three distinct areas – financial, social and environmental. Creative Placemaking presents the business case and process for successful creative placemaking as a strategy for building equitable, healthy, and thriving communities. The report addresses questions such as:

• How do developers plan for creative placemaking?
• How do developer determine the arts and culture focus?
• How is creative placemaking funded?
• If a project will be sold, why take on the additional layers of a creative placemaking approach?

One way the report answers these questions is through the use of case studies. As a sponsor of the report, ULI Washington worked with the report authors to highlight case studies in our region. Examples from the report include:

• The 11^th Street Bridge Park project as an example of creative financing. The project was able to attract an additional $50 million for an equity initiative for affordable homes, community facilities, and local nonprofit support from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
• Developers of the Monroe Street Market (Abdo and Bozzuto) successfully managed recruitment of artists for 27 studios of the property by hiring Cultural DC, a local non-profit arts organization
• The Parks at Walter Reed saw the joint effort of three developers (Hines, Urban Atlantic, and Triden) to redevelop 66 acres of the historic former Walter Reed Army Hospital Complex. This trio attended more than 200 community meetings to connect local groups to the project architects, designers, artist, and creative placemaking experts. In total 20 arts organizations have been engaged with to develop the projects arts incubator.

ULI Washington Members can read the report on Knowledgefinder. Both members and non-members also have the opportunity to engage with the report through a series of upcoming webinars, hosted by Juanita Hardy. The first event “Creative Placemaking in a Post-Covid World – Leveraging Art & Culture Today for a Different Tomorrow,” will be hosted by Zoom on Thursday September 24^th, 2020. The first in a three-part series of Fireside Chats, this event will host Marilyn Taylor, Mindy Fullilove, Ben Stone and Sherry Dobbin as they discuss employing creative placemaking strategies to create welcoming, thriving places that promote health and wellness. Further registration information is available on ULI Washington’s website.