Introduction: sensing a place, a moment to reflect

The introduction presents the current status of research in place-making, providing a context for the volume. Reviewing how arts organisations and artists work with sensitivity in regions, cities, towns and spaces to engage citizens in a deeper understanding of themselves and the places that they live, we ask how artists and practitioners have responded to their location (or relocation) and to the local need for regeneration through place-making. Singnifcantly we foreground what has been learned from the methods which have been tried? This provids the context for the models and theoretical insights presented in the book. We introduce each section to enable those in local to national policy-making or involved in the planning, commissioning or researching the function of arts in urban regeneration, or artists themselves to access relevant studies. The three sections deal with: selected artist-led case studies where intervention has proven successful; practice-led models and methods which can be applied more widely and in different socio-economic contexts; and multidisciplinary research-led approaches to place-making and contested identities. Finally we ask how can we incorporate the wealth of knowledge which the arts and humanities bring to urban planning for our communities.