Glossary of Terms

A B C D E G H L M P R S T U Z

A

Affordable Space - Affordable dwelling or working units are available at below market rates. In general, affordable space typically refers to rental housing that is within the financial means of people in the lower income ranges of a geographical area. The existence of affordable space can be the product of government regulation or the creation of a public good by the private sector. The need for affordable space is typically attributed to high demand for space, which drives of the cost of renting and/or owning, particularly when coupled with non-traditional employment and income patterns.
Artist district - Place where an artist community thrives, meaning they internally build their social and cultural capital through their clustering, producing work, presenting it, and critiquing it, etc. The term artist district places less emphasis on the cultural consumption by the broader community of goods and services made by the artist community. Other terms, like cultural district and arts and entertainment district, tend to focus more on presentation to the broader community and their consumption of cultural goods and services. Cultural districts also tend to support historic preservation, tourism, and entertainment venues.
Artist space development (ASD) - Spaces for artists to live and/or work that are affordable, constructed to meet the special needs of their medium or craft, designed to create or enhance artists  communities, and stimulate the production of innovative art work (e.g. live/work space, studios, affordable housing for artists, and artist-run multipurpose spaces). ASD has increasingly become an issue of focus in many communities throughout the U.S., as more and more stakeholders recognize that ASD projects not only promote the work of artists themselves, and that the presence of creative clusters has the potential to create physical, social, and economic impacts within local communities. Back to top

B

Brownfields - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines brownfields as abandoned, idled or under-utilized industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. Brownfields are the diametrical opposite of greenfields. Back to top

C

Capital - Resources, wealth, or assets. For the purposes of LINC's discussion of artist space development, capital is presented in four forms:

• Economic - Economic capital is synonymous with money or other investments and assets that can be converted into cash (e.g. real estate value or rent). Economic capital should not be confused with economic good, a product or service that can secure a price when sold.
• Social - Social capital is the resources created by human interaction and connection, including trust, mutual understanding, and shared values. These resources range from influence to support (e.g. social networks). Additionally, social capital has an inherent multiplier effect when large numbers of people are unified.
• Political - Political capital is the power and resources that are created through activities that build relationships (e.g. persuasion).
• Cultural/creative - Cultural capital is skills, knowledge, and human intellectual achievement. Moreover, artists embody cultural capital because of their high levels of education and skill sets.

Capital flow - The movement of investments/wealth/assets in and out of a nation, region, or locality.
Clustering - The phenomenon of companies and people locating themselves in close geographic proximity in order to stimulate innovative activity, exploit multiplier effects (particularly those in the economic realm), as well as use and benefit from services and enterprises that arise to support the cluster.
Community Development Corporation (CDC) - A geographically based non-profit organization that provides services and programming to benefit, empower, and promote its community. Many CDC's serve lower-income residents and revitalize neighborhoods, accomplishing this through advocacy, real estate development, economic development, and community organizing.
Cooperative (co-op or coop) - In general, a cooperative is a jointly owned, democratically controlled enterprise or business venture. Housing cooperatives, by extension, are a legal entity (usually a corporation) that owns real estate meant for the purpose of providing residences for shareholders. A typical housing co-op is a multi-family apartment building, whereby each shareholder occupys one housing unit. Because of the nature of joint ownership, the governance of housing co-ops is different from condominiums; for example, in the case of artist housing co-op rules can stipulate that only certified artists can occupy the unit.
Consumption - The viewing, use, and/or the purchase of a work of art by the public.
Creative class - A term coined by Richard Florida stating that a new class of society, the creative class, is achieving economic significance. This class, according to Florida's data sets, is comprised of creative knowledge and service workers, which groups together a broad range of people, typically employed in white-collar jobs: artists, academics, engineers, architects, etc. Many controversies surround Florida's theories and data, including his measures ofcreativity. Criticism of the creative class, and the misuse of the term, has culminated to a point where a group of theorists, academics, and researchers stated thatin Florida's usage, the creative class boils down to those who have received higher education, whether or not they are actually doing creative work and excludes all creative workers without degrees Because this definition is both crude and politically repugnant, we do not use the term creative class in our work.1 Nevertheless, one possible take-away from the creative class debate is that the support structures for regional innovation, diversity, and educational attainment (essential factors in economic competitiveness) would greatly benefit from a review and invigoration of policies and programs. Creative cluster - A concentration of arts and design-related ventures within a specific geographic location.
Creative economy - An evolving concept based on a growing body of research that claims cultural assets are a key part in generating socio-economic growth and development. The concept has developed over the past ten years, its origins based in development strategies arising from cultural and technological shifts which link the concept of the information economy with Sharon Zukin's theories about the intersection of artist production, real estate development, and capital flows. Some creative economy initiative policies and programs are in the realms of historic preservation, economic development, and cultural tourism.
Creative industries - In general, creative industries are a set of service enterprises that engage in economic activities originating in individual skill, creativity, and talent, and which furthermore have the potential for wealth and job creation. However, different organizations and groups make arguments in favor or against a more narrowly focused definition. For example, American for the Arts defines creative industries as a sectorfocusing solely on businesses involved in the production or distribution of the arts, such as arts-centric businesses ranging from nonprofit museums, symphonies, and theaters to for-profit film, architecture, and advertising companies.2 Others, most notably Richard Florida, lean towards a very broad definition of creative industries, grouping the arts with information technology, research science, academia, etc.
Cultural enterprises - Arts-, culture-, and heritage-centric businesses.
Cultural tourism - An industry subsector that caters to people interested in learning more about the arts and culture of a region, country, or people. Tourists can be local or from more distant locations, depending upon the type of demand for the destination. Heritage tourism is a related term. Back to top

D

Direct Export Activity - A geographic area's supplying and/or managing a product or service that is sold outside of said geographic area.

E

Enterprise development - The fostering and promotion of entrepreneurship, typically in the form of small businesses. Towards this end, organizations like community development corporations will provide goods and services like affordable space, technology, networking opportunities, and incubators.
Ephemera programming - Events, marketplaces, celebrations, etc, that exist for a short period of time, from a few hours to a few days.

G

Green Building - The practice of creating resource-efficient building models from all lifecycle points: from siting, to construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and removal. Typically, the term refers to building products are designed to conserve resources (energy, water, materials) and limit the building's negative impacts on the environment and human health; however, as a concept, it is a subset within larger trends in urbanization patterns, design, and governance that emphasize the Triple Bottom Line in the creation and use of infrastructure and resources. Related terms are sustainable design, sustainable building, and green architecture. Back to top

H

Historic Preservation - The practice of safeguarding significant old buildings and neighborhoods from destruction or insensitive encroaching contemporary development. The claims in favor of historic preservation have traditionally been that they give communities a sense of identity, stability, and orientation. Today, as the green movement gains traction, historic preservation has been positioned as a means for environmental, economic, and social sustainability; research has proven that preservation policies result in attracting private investment to historic city and town cores, enhancing property values, supplementing State and local revenues, and helping to create jobs and affordable housing. American federal historic preservation policy is grounded within a combination of funding and tax incentives, and regulations protecting historic properties tend to be at the local and state level. These rules generally take effect only once the property has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places; however, private property owners' rights are valued highly. Within this framework, the National Register listing acts as a gateway to federal funding sources. Terms with similar concepts include heritage conservation, architectural conservation, urban conservation, and landscape preservation. Back to top

L

LEED - The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system is a non-governmental certification program designed and administered by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), a trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, constructed, and operated. The ratings serve as a framework for evaluating building performance and meeting sustainability goals, and provide a common standard of measurement for green buildings.
LEED certification - Certification is generally voluntary, attained through a private developer's adherence to extensive checklists, processes, and criteria set forth by the USGBC. Certification levels range from Certified to Platinum, according to the number of points earned in six categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation and design process.
Live/work space - Space that supports both the living and working needs of the occupant. In practice, work-only or live-only spaces are largely been retrofitted to accommodate the new dual-purposes. For the purposes of artist space development, the definition of live/work space is more focused, recognizing that artist have special spatial needs, particularly depending on the type of art they practice. For example, the City of Boston has design guidelines for artist live/work space with requirements in the realms of space, accessibility, security, fire safety, lighting, noise, indoor air quality, ceiling heights, floors, common areas and more.3 If the developer is targeting dancers as occupants for the units, the spaces require sprung wooden floors. Back to top

M

Mixed-use - The practice of having more than one type of use in a building or neighborhood development. In urban planning terms, this means a combination of residential, commercial, office, institutional, industrial or other land uses. In artist space development terms, this means a combination of any or all of the following uses: living, working, presentation, commerce, etc.
Multiplier effect - The expansion of social and/or economic capital by increasing investment in organizations and enterprises.

P

Presentation - The exhibition, demonstration, display, or theatrical performance of a work of art (in economic terms, a product or good).
Production - The construction or manufacturing of a work of art (in economic terms, a product or good) from components and/or raw materials. Back to top

R

Risk - In finance, risk is the probability that an investment's actual return will be less than expected, including the possibility that all or some of the original investment will be lost. Risk, and the investor's ability to weather exposure to it, can be determined through a combination of cost-benefit analyses, evaluations of the investor's values and goals, and other financial tools. Risk is diametrically opposed to reward, whereby the investor earns gains. Related terms include investor risk. Back to top

S

Sweat-equity - Refers either to the increase in property value or the equity (investment) created by the purchaser or owner of a property or business through manual, unpaid labor and improvement.

T

Triple Bottom Line - A financial and real estate calculation made by both the private and public sectors that replaces the traditional monetary benchmark in favor of equally valuing economic, environmental, and social performance. Also known as People, Planet, Profit. Related terms include sustainable development. Back to top

U

UNCTAD - The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Established in 1964 to promote the development-friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy and help shape policy debates and thinking on development, with a particular focus on ensuring that domestic policies and international action are mutually supportive in bringing about sustainable development. http://unep.org/dec/onlinemanual/Resources/Glossary/tabid/69/Default.aspx?letter=U]
Urbanism - Generally, urbanism is the meta-pattern of behavior, exchange, relationships, settlement, and other social, economic, cultural, political, and physical attributes that define urban life, communities, and space. Urban areas themselves are generally defined by their high population density and incidence of physical, sociological, economic, and cultural diversity. Inherent in the term is the significant difference between urban and rural areas and issues.

Z

Zoning - Zoning is a tool used by municipalities and counties to preserve certain qualities of a neighborhood, protect existing residents or businesses, or even to incentivize development. Broadly stated, it is a system of land use regulation that separates different uses from each other and/or impacts the height, lot coverage, density, etc, of the built environment. Increasingly, the socio-economic values of mixed-use developments are being recognized and individual land uses (residential, commercial, office, institutional, industrial, open space, and agricultural, for example) are being combined on a single parcel or within a single building to form more dynamic developments. However, these mixed-use developments are either expressly stipulated and planned-for by municipalities, or are made possible through a private development company being awarded a variance (or, exception to zoning requirements) after arguing that adherence to the zoning rules would create a hardship. Back to top