CREATIVE PLACEMAKING PROJECT
Art for Community Building / Design Thinking / Art and
Design for Sustainability
Simultaneous Openings of Contemporary Art, Miguel Bombarda
Neighborhood - Porto, Portugal
- contemporary art, design thinking, and social design for public spaces
- creative and collaborative community
- education, cultural diversity, local economy, and civic
engagement
- developed based on the circular economy thinking
We believe that a community-engaged approach, art, and
design, play a key role in changing a social paradigm and a possible community
development through arts and culture. In this sense, we propose the symbiosis of artistic
methodologies, design, visuals, production, and communication with the
involvement of the artistic community and the general public, as essential for
the development of an active urban public space, full of creativity and civic value.
The activities and entertainment of the urban public space
were developed for the theme; a multidisciplinary project based on artistic
practices to stimulate collective creative thinking. We engaged the local
community in the design project giving priority to artistic projects based in Miguel
Bombarda neighborhood; we have encouraged informal and independent business
entities by giving them bureaucratic support and guidance in the activities to
be developed.
The video illustrates one event, during 2019 we presented six events. Video by Paulo Cunha Martins (https://paulocunhamartins.com/)
APPROACH
Miguel Bombarda Neighborhood, a place to be
- the street understood as social and creative space, space
of action and collective thought; the street as a canvas result of a design
project open to the intervention of the public; the space as a "living
organism" that gains a new form and artistic dimension by the action of
the one who observes, reflects and interacts; the street as territory, memory,
and identity that has been entrusted; from design to reality, from space imagining
to real space, from theory to practice.
All the elements in this art/design project - communication,
identity, graphics, video, signage, posters, promotional elements, programming,
contents, etc. - were crafted for the purpose to give the space an identity. An
anonymous and uninteresting space transformed into a creative pole focusing on
the community and the people who inhabit it.
RESULTS
This creative stimulus for sustainable community development
through arts has resulted in the improvement of an optimistic feeling to
existing challenges that the city presented: gentrification, lack of feeling of
belonging, loss of local identity, aestheticization and
"touristification" of the historical and popular environment
(national and international social phenomena between 2014-2019).
Collective memory and identity were activated. The local
community supports the project and developed a sense of belonging, wanting to
get involved, to "be part" of this identity and narrative that we
have been developing. Economically the project presents positive and growth
results for small businesses and local independent projects. The surrounding
area has become more attractive compared to other historical parts of the city.
The qualitative and quantitative value of the physical space, and consequently
of the commercial and patrimonial projects of the surrounding area, increased.
The community began to support itself, other independent
projects began to replicate the model and establish partnerships that reflect
growth and evolution. The feeling was of overcoming a problem, of reacting to
the difficulties. 2019 ended with optimism and hope in the new decade.
https://www.anacmyk.com/bombarda2019
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* developed in partnership with Porto Municipality
Ágora Cultura e Desporto do Porto
