Summary

Sit Down! was a public art project which took place in 2006 in Mimersgade, a multicultural working-class district of Copenhagen undergoing extensive neighbourhood renewal, financed through an economic development partnership between the City of Copenhagen and Realdania, a strategic foundation created to initiate and support projects that improve the built environment.

The project was delivered by publik, an artist-focused organisation producing arts projects for public spaces. Rather than producing permanent artworks, Sit Down! focused on six temporary artist interventions to actively engage local people in the improvement of their neighbourhood. The artist projects and resulting exhibition prompted lively public debate and offered residents new insights into urban regeneration processes. However, the short-term nature of the projects did not allow for as much community consultation and mediation as publik and the artists would have ideally wanted, limiting their impact on wider urban renewal planning and delivery.