The Power of Creative Placemaking to Activate Downtown Cores
- George Fortin
- May 22
- 4 min read
In the years I spent working real estate, we masterminded several city defining projects like Boston Seaport, the Wharf District, and Downsview aka YZD. The challenge of creating a new neighborhood is that you empty a large area, you dig massive holes, create dust and noise, and then build something great, but with no one in it. As Shakespeare put it “what’s the city but the people?”
This idea is similar to what happened in the last 5 years. The cities got emptied out. The office towers are vacant. The retail shop are not seeing enough traffic to justify the rent. It’s basically the same problem as when we had to activate a new real estate development. How to bring people to your site and make them WANT to stay.
Urban developers know the importance of placemaking, but it is hard to calculate the ROI of public art and common area art installations.
Public art attracts people and keeps them there
The TMU study, “Augmenting places: The impact of placemaking on behavioral intentions” confirmed what many in real estate have long observed: public art is key to activating public space:
50% more likely to linger in areas with creative placemaking
53% more likely to have positive perceptions of the location
77% more likely to recommend the space to others
These outcomes translate directly into tenant engagement, property value, and community goodwill—all key performance indicators for real estate portfolios.
Through the integration of arts and culture into real estate development, creative placemaking transforms neighborhoods, sparking economic revitalization and community vibrancy. It enhances a sense of place, attracts forward-thinking investments, and fosters inclusive growth that reflects the community it serves. Given the inherent complexities involved in the operations of architecturally integrated artworks, proper infrastructure and management practice of these unique assets are crucial to the benefit of both longtime residents and new stakeholders.
Now that there’s further proof that public art is creating value for real estate, and not just a chattel to account for, how to do we manage it like the appreciating, value-creating asset that it is?
After the public unveiling
A new public art is great PR and attracts politicians and community leaders. But once the big event is done, these creative placemaking installations still produce public attention. Curation and collection management will yield additional dividend and will continue to create value for the real estate around it. Introducing new public art generates excellent PR and draws politicians and community leaders. However, beyond the initial event, these creative placemaking installations sustain ongoing public interest. Effective curation and collection management can further enhance returns, continuing to add value to the surrounding real estate.
The risk of not managing these unique objects is well documented and we get reminders many times a year of what happens when it’s neglected. Title contributed to a Forbes article detailing the lost of 46 artworks in the Netherlands, with cultural treasures like Warhol’s portrait of Queen Beatrix being discarded like mere decorations. “We protect what has value”.
Another recent example from revealing 2024 investigation by Governing, officials in Detroit and Philadelphia acknowledged that dozens of publicly owned artworks have gone missing. In Detroit alone, multiple sculptures disappeared from city records, with little to no documentation of when or how they were removed. In some cases, assets were relocated without public knowledge; in others, they were presumed stolen or destroyed (Governing, 2024).
Best Practices for Managing Public Art
Creative placemaking pieces are often mobile, weather-exposed, or intentionally interactive. Managing them requires discipline and the right infrastructure. Here are the essentials:
Comprehensive Inventory Management: Artwork is more than chattel and needs to be managed and recorded with the right level of details to easily identify, maintain, and restore these unique objects.
Location tracking: Know where every piece is, even if on loan or in storagefrom external loans to internal storage.
Work with pros to install or remove it: Being in the public domain means it might be integrated with the architecture, it needs to be moved off hours, and it needs to be done without damaging the work.with professional expertise and proper handling
Diversity and ESG metrics: Track artist background and thematic alignment with community needs
Insurance and risk documentation: Ensure accurate valuation and current coverage
By adhering to these best practices, asset managers and cultural institutions can effectively oversee public art collections, ensuring they continue to enrich public spaces and resonate with communities.
Why Tools Like Title Are Essential
These incidents of missing public art highlight a simple truth: art needs asset-grade management.
That’s where a platform like Title steps in. Title enables:
Digital documentation across large, distributed collections
Valuation and maintenance tracking for each piece
Collaborative access with your team, conservators, and insurers
ESG and provenance reporting at the portfolio level
With Title, artworks stop being liabilities and start performing like the long-term cultural and financial assets they are.
As the real estate sector responds to shifting ESG expectations, public art offers an elegant solution: it humanizes our developments, supports diverse creatives, and generates foot traffic—while enhancing long-term asset performance - But only if it’s managed properly.
Creative placemaking isn’t an afterthought. It’s a forward-looking investment—and it deserves the same oversight as any other asset on the balance sheet.
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