ABSTRACT
The enquiry into arts, public space and community discourses invites the question about the role of the built environment in community arts development. The initial premise is that the overall design quality of urban spaces can significantly affect the nature, quality and success of arts and culture interventions, events and activities in the neighbourhood. While arts can contribute to enlivening public spaces and building stronger local communities, well-designed spaces can, in turn, provide a more conducive environment and support for a range of arts and culture activities to occur and flourish. Spaces represent the necessary part of an arts ecosystem, which refers to a comprehensive network of spatial and human resources established and animated to nourish and sustain the presence and growth of arts and cultural activities in the neighbourhood. While the conventional approach to arts and cultural development typically starts with the provision of hardware - formal arts venues, such as museums, galleries or theatres, spaces for community arts, which are more often than not community- or space-specific, pose different challenges and opportunities.
