This contribution aims to share and discuss different forms of intervention in public spaces relating art to the transformation of contemporary cities. The analysis of several emergent forms of creation allows discovering, through the artistic field, variousways of expression and socio-economical dynamicsshaping andmodifying the contemporary urban landscape.The paperintroduces a study related to the creative spatial practiceswhich detonate processes of empowerment of communities by means ofrecovering thememory and the dominance ofthe place.Through the case ofthe International Urban Art Exhibition, an ephemeral and open air festival based on the outskirts of Barcelona this paper shows different practices of re-appropriation that encourage creative participation of several social agents by collaborative and site-specific projects in some public spaces (publicwashing places) with different communities.

Peer Reviewed