DRS2012 Bangkok Proceedings Vol 4 - Design Research Society

Making Sense of Interventions in Public Places as Drivers of Urban Renewal
private sector often organize them, it includes monuments, sculptures, art and cultural
festivals. Dissensual cultural and artistic interventions are per se more dynamic, up-todate,
open-minded and playful because of their recreational and performative art, social
and cultural character, and the acts often relate to current issues on ecology, local
identity and politics.
The Recreational Intervention
The recreational intervention relates to a certain degree to the cultural intervention
because it makes use of cultural qualities to recreate people on streets, parks, squares
and so on. It differs on the lack of monetary activity and exchange as the recreational
intervention aims to entertain and recreate people free of charge. For example, in
Caracas people can freely access yoga, capoeira classes, public dance therapy sessions
and concerts that often focus on national music and dances. Recreational interventions
are usually consensual because the municipality often offers them. These happenings
enliven public spaces as they create social and cultural dynamics rich in well-being and
participation. Taking local dances, and other well-being practices such as yoga, help city
residents to recreate and cope with the stress of their daily urban activities. Moreover, it
brings about communal feeling, social engagement and a sense of togetherness.
Recreational interventions change significantly the interactions in urban sites, and bring
forth themes of local identity. Also, the presence of a temporal and recreational
happening brings a particular essence to the place and creates a special image of it,
where local exchange simultaneously develops.
The Political Intervention
The political intervention includes visual and textual expressions on public surfaces and
banners, it is also established by demonstrations, marches, strikes, activist acts, and any
kind of intervention that contain a political statement. There exists consensual and
dissensual actions, depending who organizes and take action in the event. All
interventions are, in one way or another political, as they can often relate to a political
statement. For example, the commercial interventionist who acts in a dissensual way may
be against the regulations of the use or, lack of, city spaces, and to the politico-economic
situation of the country. Thus, interventions may be categorized in various ways as they
can often be interpreted from various perspectives.
Art, culture and politics are also linked in urban interventions. For example, Caracas has
carried out a project where graffiti makers and mural artists are hired by the government
to embellish the city with visual images. The consensual happening is motivated by the
government who hired artists to show their expertise. Depressing and dreary sites such
as bridges and highway passages have been revitalized with colors, forms and
dimensions that illustrate national themes and which bring forth Venezuela’s cultural
identity and value. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate how mural artists and graffiti makers can
revitalize city spaces; and, how visual expression becomes an opportunity to embrace
participation, foster local culture and identity. This type of intervention is a political act as
well as artistic and cultural one. It is political because it is driven by the politics of the
country where local knowledge, local identity and local development are key drivers;
artistic due to the art of making and, cultural because most of the messages relate to the
local heritage.
This type of intervention is highly participative and reflective as it includes graffiti painters
and artists into the society; they are appreciated and comprehended through their knowhow,
the manipulation of spray and colors; and, for their capacity to revitalize urban sites.
The themes of the interventions shown in figures 4 and 5 highlight the notion of identity,
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