According to Robert Bedoya (Cultural Affairs Manager for the city of Oakland, CA), creative placemaking is a field of work that refers to "cultural activities that shape the physical and social characteristics of a place." The phrase refers frequently to arts informed urban planning projects, but Bedoya himself, a leader in the field, troubles this interpretation:

What I’ve witnessed in the discussions and practices associated with Creative Placemaking is that they are tethered to a meaning of “place” manifest in the built environment, for example, artists’ live-work spaces, cultural districts, spatial landscapes. And this meaning, which operates inside the policy frame of urban planning and economic development, is OK, but it is not the complete picture. Its insufficiency lies in a lack of understanding that before you have places of belonging, you must feel you belong. (Grantmakers in the Arts)