Art in transit: Mobility, aesthetics and urban development

Theresa Enright

Urban Studies, 2023, vol. 60, issue 1, 67-84

Abstract: High-profile architecture and design, alongside integrated arts and cultural programming are now ubiquitous features of public transit networks. This article considers how and why transit-based arts and cultural programmes are proliferating globally as well as the impact of these programmes on transit and urban dynamics. Through critically analysing the discourses surrounding different transit art initiatives and the institutional structures which support them, this article shows how transit art is used today for varied – and often contradictory – ends. Based on this, it argues that we should not uncritically celebrate the rise of transit art as an unmitigated civic good. Rather, we must situate the rise of transit art within a political and aesthetic economy in which art has become ‘expedient’, and contend with the way transit art is implicated in elite, exclusionary and unsustainable processes of urbanisation.

Keywords: aesthetics; infrastructure; mobility; public art; public transport; urban transit; 美学; 基础设施; æµ åŠ¨æ€§; 公共艺术; 公共交通; 城市交通 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00420980221087035 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:60:y:2023:i:1:p:67-84

DOI: 10.1177/00420980221087035

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().