Chicano Park’s urban imaginary

This chapter explores Chicano Park’s urban imaginary. I engage Anderson’s concept of an imagined community to argue that Chicano Park’s urban imaginary served as symbolic territory for an art-based community revitalization effort grounded on representation of cultural identity. The Chicano urban imaginary in Chicano Park transformed urban planning investments into redistributive urban policies. The Chicano Park case demonstrates that ethnic identity plays an important part in reshaping urban spaces. In this chapter I investigate the role identity representation played in the Chicano movement imaginary and its relation to Chicano Park art, while also analyzing the anti-colonial public art in Chicano Park. Finally, I examine the role that redistributive urban policies play in the transformation of urban planning investments in this neighborhood. I conclude that Chicano Park’s urban imaginary empowered neighborhood arts activists to maintain their neighborhood’s Chicano culture.