Incorporating the Arts into Urban Development--The Economic Impact of the Arts and Public Art in the U.S.--

Social Development Research Department Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto

Summary

The arts and culture will play an important role in urban development projects of the 21st century.
Three components of the arts and culture are relevant to urban development. These components and their recent trends in Japan are as follows:

Cultural facilities (hardware): A growing number of large-scale urban development projects contain cultural facilities.
Artworks and cultural events (software): There has been an increase in "public art" (art works placed in public spaces)， and in arts festivals featuring theatrical plays， dances， and concerts.
Arts organizations and artists (humanware): More arts organizations and "artist in residence" programs are being supported to help boost the image of cities.

The impact of the arts and culture on cities can be divided into an "artistic impact" derived from these three components， and an "economic impact" on the local economy.
Recent U.S. surveys describe the economic impact of the arts and culture as follows:
Total annual spending of non-profit art organizations in the U.S. was approximately $37 billion (average for 1990-92); this generated 1.3 million jobs (equivalent to over 1% of the entire U.S. labor force) and $25 billion in personal income.
In 1992， the economic impact of the arts industry in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area amounted to $9.8 billion (a 14% increase over 1982 in real terms)， generating $3.5 billion in personal income (10% increase) and approximately 110，000 jobs (8.5% decline).
The artistic impact of the arts and culture in the U.S. is evidenced by the following trends in public art:
Public art projects have made great strides due to support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)， "percent for arts" programs of local governments， and private nonprofit organizations.Recently， the scope of public art projects has extended beyond merely placing artworks in public spaces to encompass all aspects of urban development. Emphasis has shifted to participation of artists in overall project planning， the public's participation in implementing projects， and the process of managing artworks.
However， we also must keep in mind the differences between the U.S. and Japan in the social significance of the arts， background social conditions and urban problems， and the level of awareness and sense of alarm regarding the decline of the arts.
One pitfall that must be avoided is having a blind faith in the potential impact of the arts and culture， which leads to building cultural facilities and placing artworks without any clear-cut objectives.
To make the arts a viable component of urban development strategy in the 21st century， the following conditions must be met: clear-cut goals and objectives must be defined， economic impact must not be considered as the final goal， a long-term view must be taken for both urban development and the nurturing of the arts and culture， the creativity and flexibility inherent in the arts must be introduced， and the process by which projects will be realized must be emphasized.