In a northern market town, a light and sound installation simultaneously sparks a wealth of community interactions and highlights the often messy process of cultural placemaking.

Our recent research digest, Culture and Placemaking, examines how and why arts and culture play a part in placemaking and what that means for organisations, practitioners, policymakers and funders. In this article, Centre for Cultural Value Research Fellow and artist Rob Eagle reflects on their experiences of creating a four-week art installation with and for their local community.

“We don’t normally get art things like this here.”

“It’s nice to see something, anything, really, happening here.”

“What’s the point of it?”

These are just some of the responses from Shipley residents to WALK THIS WAY, an outdoor light and music installation commissioned for the town’s market square. Developed through a series of dance workshops with young people, using technology to turn their movements into light and sound, the installation aimed to bring public art into everyday spaces. But as reactions ranged from curiosity to indifference, it raised a broader question:

What is the role of art in a community, and who really benefits from cultural placemaking?

Creating art for public spaces: a question of value

My work as an artist often takes place in theatres or galleries, commonly spaces where audiences opt into cultural experiences. But public art in everyday environments is different. It meets people where they are, sometimes disrupting routines and inviting engagement – or critique. For me, WALK THIS WAY was also deeply personal: as a local artist, I was creating work in the place where I live, making myself accountable to my community.

Shipley, a post-industrial town in West Yorkshire, sits within the Bradford Metropolitan District, where arts and culture are increasingly seen as tools for economic regeneration and social cohesion. This reflects wider trends in UK cultural policy, where creative placemaking is positioned to foster ‘pride of place’ and revitalise local economies. However, as the Centre for Cultural Value’s Culture and Placemaking research digest highlights, there are often gaps in understanding the impact of these interventions—particularly on local artists and cultural workers.

The reality of creative placemaking

Bradford’s BD:Is LiT light festival, which in 2023 included the installation in Shipley, is part of a growing movement of cultural initiatives aiming to animate urban spaces. Research and policy reports (including this report from the Local Government Association, and this report from DCMS) suggest that such events can attract visitors and boost local economies while also creating shared cultural experiences. However, they also raise critical questions: Do these short-term interventions have a lasting impact? Who defines cultural value in these contexts? And how do we ensure that creative placemaking is genuinely inclusive?

Yet, creative placemaking is not a simple success story. Not everyone embraced the installation; some questioned its purpose, while others dismissed it outright. The Centre for Cultural Value’s research digest emphasises the need for more critical reflection on cultural interventions—moving beyond economic measures of success to explore how people experience and respond to cultural work in their daily lives and how this process is valuable in building more resilient communities.

Looking beyond failure and success

While WALK THIS WAY did not transform Shipley’s declining market square overnight, it did embody three crucial elements of creative placemaking:

1. Artistic risk. The project allowed for experimentation, embracing uncertainty and vulnerability in both process and outcome.
2. Youth engagement. The workshops provided a space for local young people to connect, play, and see their creativity reflected in a public space.
3. Unexpected connections. The project sparked conversations among diverse groups, from students to older residents, demonstrating the potential for art to create moments of connection.

Rethinking cultural value in placemaking

Creative placemaking is complex. As policymakers and cultural workers, we need to move beyond instrumental narratives of economic impact and ‘pride of place’ to consider the lived realities of these projects. Who defines the success of public art? How do we measure cultural value in ways that centre local voices? And how can we ensure that cultural interventions are not just temporary spectacles but part of deeper, sustained engagement?

If we want creative placemaking to be meaningful, we must listen to communities, support local artists, and critically reflect on the intended and unexpected outcomes.

For policymakers, this means embedding long-term cultural strategies rather than relying on short-term interventions. For artists, it means embracing the possibilities and tensions of working in public spaces. And for all of us, it means asking: how do we create cultural work that truly belongs to the places and people it aims to serve?

At the Centre for Cultural Value, we’re interested in hearing more about your experiences in cultural placemaking and shaping a more inclusive, reflective approach to arts in our communities. Email us at ccv@leeds.ac.uk.

This article is based on Rob Eagle’s research article Walk This Way: The role of the artist from creative placemaking to communitas published in Performance Research, Volume 29, Issue 2 (2024).

To find out more about how the Centre for Cultural Value’s work provides insights into culture and placemaking, take a look at these resources:

Research Digest: Culture and Placemaking

Culture and place: Why we need to look beyond cities (Arts Professional, 19 June 2024)

My Essential Reads: The role of culture in place-based development

Research Digest: The role of the artist in society

My Essential Reads: The politics and possibilities of artists working with communities