Course Syllabus

Public Art and Creative Placemaking

Semester & Location:	Fall 2026 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Urban Studies, Visual Arts, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design
Prerequisite(s):	None
Faculty Members:	Mathilde Riou (current students please use the Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:	Mondays and Thursdays 11:40-13:00 / Classroom: TBD

Course Description

Please read this page thoroughly to prepare for the course!

Note that the sequencing of sessions can be switched around

This course explores the role of art in shaping cities: the impact on the built environment, but also social, cultural, and economic implications.  

From murals and protest art to third places and cultural districts, we examine how artistic practices engage with people, transform public space and the built environment, and influence city branding.

What really counts as public art? Is graffiti vandalism, or one of the city’s forms of expression? Who has the right to create in public space? Is public art a tool for empowerment, or for gentrification? How can we move from temporary artistic projects to lasting cultural change? How do we sustain creative voices in cities where the market leaves little room for the “small players”? And what happens to urban art in the age of AI?

We will explore public art and creative placemaking through four lenses:

1. The city as a playground for creation: We begin with a brief history of urban art and why it matters, listing its potential and challenges. Using a library of international examples, we explore how artists use the city as a canvas and a site of expression, resistance, and imagination.
2. Inclusive creative placemaking: In this module we examine questions of access, participation, and representation, looking at who really gets to create in public space and how artistic practices can foster more inclusive and just cities.
3. The economic case of creative placemaking: Cultural Districts, city-wide cultural strategies, street and neighborhood regeneration: how do the arts drive economic (re)development? Here we will analyze how public art and cultural initiatives intersect with urban development, gentrification, and city branding.
4. Toolbox for sustainable public art: We wrap up the semester with practical tools and strategies for making public art resilient, respectful, and transformative: governance, funding, maintenance and how to support artists over time.

Through case studies, explorations in Copenhagen, and guest lectures, this course will enable you to think critically about urban art and examine how it can transform spaces in a meaningful way as well as support artists and local communities.

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the various scales and forms of urban art
• Analyze how public art and creative placemaking shape cities: physically, socially, culturally, and economically
• Investigate the role of cultural strategies as a tool for urban revitalization and city branding
• Critically examine questions of access, representation, and power in urban art, including issues of gentrification and cultural appropriation
• Communicate ideas creatively and collaboratively through visual and multimedia formats
• Apply course concepts to design a thoughtful, site-specific public art proposal that engages local contexts and promote sustainable cultural change

 

Faculty

Mathilde Riou
MSc (Urban Studies, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2017). MSc (Urban Planning, National Institute of Applied Sciences, Lyon, France, 2016) BSc. (Civil Engineering, National Institute of Applied Sciences, Lyon, France, 2014). Mathilde is a native French living in Copenhagen. She previously worked as a project manager and process consultant in a French firm specialized in participatory approaches and citizen engagement for urban projects (at different scales and for both public and private clients). Founder of The Urban Mycelium in 2021, focusing on visual tools and group facilitation for placemaking. Since 2024: part-time faculty at DIS, teaching the core course "The European Urban Experience: Why Cities Matter". Active leader member of Placemaking Europe since 2017 and co-initiator of a regional network for Danish-based placemakers in 2023. 

 

Readings

Please note there is no textbook for this course and most readings are found exclusively on Canvas.

 

Field Studies

Lectures will be supported by site visits and field studies by bus, S-train or metro. All topics will be covered both by literature, lectures and field studies. The field studies will include observation exercises and group reflection. All course assignments will be based on these findings and investigations.

 

Guest Lecturers

The field of public art and creative placemaking is a multifaceted one, at the intersection between the spheres of urban development, culture and public space. It requires an interdisciplinary approach, which calls for different perspectives. Therefore, several guest lecturers have been invited to speak in this course. 

 

Approach to Teaching

The class meets two times a week, 23 sessions in total during the semester.

In this course, we spend approximately 40% of the sessions out in the field. On a general basis, Mondays will be spent in class exploring a topic, and Thursdays will be out in the field, with or without a guest, to examine the topic in practice.

This means that teaching is varied and often very engaging, but this also requires students to be able to adapt their learning to both interactive site visits and in-class lectures.

Readings, podcasts or videos are always assigned before class and available in the corresponding calendar entries on Canvas. This material is key to understanding the case studies covered throughout the semester, and should be completed before class. Rather than just gathering information, the goal with homework is to identify deeper meanings, relationships between ideas, and their relevance to the topic of arts in the urban world. This requires analysis, creativity, and sharing your own urban and cultural experiences while thinking critically.

Copenhagen will serve as a living classroom and will be discussed in juxtaposition with various international cases. The class will also include collaborative group work.

 

DIS Accommodations Statement 

Your learning experience in this class is important to me. If you have approved academic accommodations with DIS, please make sure I receive your DIS accommodations letter within two weeks from the start of classes. If you can think of other ways I can support your learning, please don't hesitate to talk to me. If you have any further questions about your academic accommodations, contact Academic Support academicsupport@dis.dk

 

Expectations of the Students

Active participation and critical thinking is essential!

All students are expected to be independent learners and thinkers, good observers, and critical researchers. The academic content of the lectures will be substantial, but the learning objective is primarily the ability to translate that academic knowledge into usable, applicable knowledge, using the city as an urban laboratory. Students are expected to be able to conduct individual observation exercises as well as storytelling exercises and what-if-scenario assignments. Students are expected to be smart and imaginative in relation to the exercises and assignments, as well as sensible and sensitive in relation to lectures and field studies. There are times to discuss and create, and there are times to look and listen.

Team spirit: All students are expected to be helpful and pay attention to their fellow classmates, especially in relation to the field studies and mapping and observation exercises. Sharing information and experiences is highly encouraged; together, we know more.

 

Evaluation

Participation

All students are expected to attend all classes and be on time, and to engage and participate actively in class, in group discussions, and show curiosity (for example: asking relevant questions) with the guest lecturers. You should come to class prepared with comments or questions based on the readings or references. Interacting and engaging with your peers also counts as participation. The use of electronic devices is restricted to note-taking during lectures and field studies.

Assignment 1: Public art that moves you – a collective library

This assignment is about sharing inspiration and starting to build a shared library of what public art can be. You will bring an example of a public artwork, festival, third place, cultural district, or protest piece that inspires you (from one of your recent travels or from home), something that made you think, feel, or look differently at the city.

Your goal is to introduce the project to others: its story, location, creators, message, and why it speaks to you. What does it do well? What emotions or ideas does it spark?

These quick, creative presentations will build a collective library of references that we will keep returning to throughout the semester as a source of inspiration.

Assignment 2: Art in context

In this assignment you will dig deeper into how art operates within the real urban fabric of Copenhagen. You will choose an artistic intervention (a mural, festival, third place, cultural district, protest performance, etc.) and examine it through a critical lens:

Who made it possible and why? How does it interact with its surroundings and communities? Who benefits, and who might be excluded? What power dynamics, political agendas, or economic forces are at play?

Your submission is a multimedia essay (e.g. podcast, short video, or collage / photo essay with a write-up), using interviews, archives, and creative storytelling to make your analysis an artistic piece in itself, that is both rigorous and engaging.

Assignment 3: Urban art design proposal

The final is a group project to design a site-specific art intervention to transform a public space.

Students apply course concepts by developing a proposal for a temporary or permanent artistic intervention in a specific public space of Copenhagen. The intervention should engage the local community and address urban challenges, such as gentrification, sustainability, the preservation of collective memory, etc. This is a design-based project.

The goal is not to produce the artwork in the end, but to think through how art can activate public space in a meaningful way while providing positive outcomes for the community. The deliverables are a moodboard, a concept statement, a small mock-up or visual representation of your concept and a plan for installation and maintenance including ideas for funding and governance.

For all assignments:
Note that late submissions will be accepted but points will be deducted from the total mark relative to the delay.

 

Grading

Assignment	Percent
Participation	20%
Assignment 1	20%
Assignment 2	20%
Assignment 3	40%

 

Academic Regulations

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

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