Public Art as a Function of Urbanism

This chapter describes urban developments through the prism of the experience of public art in Preston. In Preston, urban renaissance took the form of the Tithebarn scheme - an ambitious retail and leisure development, which proposed to reconfigure around one-third of the existing city centre. In addition to local artists, who explored the implications of regeneration through site-specific projects and events, creative responses to the Tithebarn scheme were driven by a handful of individuals with links to Preston's foremost institutions - the city council and the University of Central Lancashire. The burgeoning public art culture in Preston during the early 2000s reflected a wider national trend. By enabling artists to connect to Preston over a sustained period of time, the programme has generated a series of projects that have transcended their status as one-off public artworks to become part of an ongoing dialogue with and within the city.