People Behind the Plans: Julie Burros

American Planning Association

Julie Burros sees arts and culture not only as an end in itself but also as a way planners can solve intractable problems. Throughout her career, she's helped governments leverage experimental, artist-designed projects: there was taiko drumming with seniors through a dangerous Boston intersection and outfitting a City of Boston FleetHub vehicle with comments from a public meeting.

“Artists can really think of things that aren’t in the typical planner’s toolbox and help push planners to be more innovative ...”
—Julie Burros, principal cultural planner, Metris Arts Consulting

The principal cultural planner at Metris Arts Consulting speaks with People Behind the Plans host Courtney Kashima, AICP, about all things cultural planning, and they use Julie's "Cultural Planning Manifesto" as a jumping-off point for their conversation. She covers the breadth of what goes into a cultural plan, including arts education, support for individual artists, and health of the economy and job creation. The document discusses the physical look and character of a city, of course, but it also addresses how to make art part of the infrastructure in the public realm, as well as how to incorporate arts and culture in affordable housing, climate change, transportation, and other areas. She discusses her experiences working in Chicago, Boston, and Easton, Pennsylvania, with her stints in Chicago and Boston seeing her create and implement those cities' cultural plans. Julie and Courtney delve deeper into the idea of culture as infrastructure — in other words, a basic human need. She argues that cultural planning is a way to investigate issues of deep, systemic inequities and give people hope.