Building Vibrancy

Creative Placemaking Strategies for Gateway City Growth and Renewal

Published Date : July 30, 2012
Author(s) : Ben Forman and Tyler Creighton

The struggle Gateway Cities have endured in recent years obscures their untapped potential in an economy that increasingly puts a premium on attractive, authentic, and livable communities. This has not been lost on a new generation of artists and cultural entrepreneurs, who are finding inspired ways to reinvent our Gateway Cities through creative placemaking.

At a major summit on this innovative approach held last April in Lowell, MassINC put a spotlight on these efforts. Building Vibrancy provides an overview of this activity, uncovering the successes and challenges Gateway Cities encounter as they work to implement creative placemaking strategies. The report also offers recommendations to foster and build upon creative placemaking as an economic development strategy.

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Meet The Authors

Ben Forman

Research Director, MassINC

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