Changing Implicitness – Functions of Arts and Culture in Urban Planning and Policies across Times and Places

In recent years, arts and culture have gained prominent roles in post-industrial urban development. However, contrary to many publications on the topic, these roles are not permanent across place and time. This presentation will emphasize differences of such intended usages for urban development for almost three decades, and on both sides of the Atlantic.

In Baltimore, Maryland, und Hamburg, Germany, the presenter has compared uses and interventions that recognize the arts as agent of urban development. In these places, and for years, the objectives of this usage were undisputed. However, often unbeknownst to the experts (artists, arts managers, arts administrators, politicians, urban planners, and project developers), the meaning of utilization has changed dramatically – and differently so for the two compared cities. The understanding of an urban utilization of arts and culture is everything but permanent.

The author interviewed 70 local experts and compared their statements in Baltimore, in 1988, 2004, 2010 and 2016, and in Hamburg, in 2006 and 2013. The study uses qualitative expert interviews as data gathering method and systematic interview analysis (with Atlas.ti) as data analysis method.