Editor’s Note

In the caves that early humans painted tens of thousands of years ago, our earliest form of lasting self-expression was born. Our prehistoric ancestors marked the spaces they inhabited with art and transformed them into places with a unique resonance. When art is situated in the world, it can transform a space into what might be considered a “marked site.” When we inhabit such a place, we feel a sense of belonging, because we have created a connection not just to the place but to the people around us. When we feel those bonds of community, we get a sense of our own self-worth: I matter to others, I am important, I matter to myself. When we feel this self- worth, we begin to create the meaning in our lives. We are shaped by the people and places all around us. In this light, we can see art and design as a poetics, a “harmonic reason” that guides our hands, to achieve a suitable and specific praxis of art, of building. As we create, we seek to “let-dwell” the conscious ideals, identity, and culture of a place. Plato understood poesis as a process that makes visible or brings into existence what is otherwise invisible or non-existing—it is a revealing. Aristotle describes poesis as a productive activity that has an end or value beyond itself—a transcendence. Through this process of revelation and transcendence, the meaning in our lives emerges. This is why art and design is not just important, but necessary. The articles in this issue are about why and how we can incorporate art into our lives, into our places, into our communities and why this is necessary: so we can continue to grow, thrive, evolve. Life in the United States today is rife with injustice, uncertainty, and chaos. Negative aspects of individualism are rampant. It is for this reason alone that it becomes important to find more connections with one another, to create a greater sense of community, and it is through art and design that we can achieve this goal. This issue of Cite is about Creative Placemaking, a term which is culturally complicated, but which, in the end, simply tries to talk about how we can integrate art into the fabric of our lives in a meaningful way, with joy and pride that allows for greater, better connections with one another.

Ernesto Alfaro, Marie Rodriguez, Raj Mankad

Table of Contents

Cite Article PDF

Cite 101 Introduction

Cite Article PDF

2018 RDA Gala: Public

Cite Article PDF

Member Profile: Larry Whaley

Cite Article PDF

Creative Placemaking in the United States: Two Case Studies

Cite Article PDF

Is This a Human Rights Movement?

Cite Article PDF

The Domestic Gallery: Three Vignettes

Cite Article PDF

Identity and Displacement in Houston's 2nd Ward

Cite Article PDF

Sharpstown Strip

Cite Article PDF

Third Ward Quilt

Cite Article PDF

Housing and the Gilded Muzzle

Cite Article PDF

Dozie Kanu

Cite Article PDF

Finca Tres Robles: Urban Educational Agriculture

Cite Article PDF

Critical Placemaking

Cite Article PDF

Parking Lot Becomes a Spectacle

Cite Article PDF

Reading Houston's Names, New and Old

Cite Article PDF

Bill's Junk: A Study of Living with Art

Cite Article PDF

Pyburn's Farm Fresh Foods

Cite Article PDF

What's Love Got to Do With It?

Cite Article PDF

A Terroir of Concrete and Strip Malls?

Contributors

Ernesto Alfaro; Bill Davenport; M. Lawrence Dillon; Stephen Fox; Daniel Garcia-Prats; Mark Garcia-Prats; Thomas Garcia-Prats; David Leftwich; Raj Mankad; Lynne McCabe; Sheila Mednick; Falon Mihalic; John Pluecker; Marie Rodriguez; Todd Romero; Nicola Springer; and Margy Waller.