Why Art is the Best Security System Money Can’t Buy

Image courtesy of About Portland Tours

In my fifty years of making art, I’ve often watched how people interact with a sculpture once it leaves the safety of my studio. I’ve seen them stop, tilt their heads, walk around it, and—most importantly—start talking to the person standing next to them. That simple act of stopping is more than just an "aesthetic moment." It is a fundamental shift in the safety of our streets.

Lately, our conversations in Portland have been dominated by the fear of crime and the feeling of disorder in our urban core. We talk about patrols and lighting, but we often miss the most powerful deterrent we have: the presence of people.

The legendary urbanist Jane Jacobs called this "Eyes on the Street." She argued that a safe city isn't created by police alone, but by a dense, active mix of people who feel a sense of ownership over their sidewalks. When a neighborhood feels like a community, the anonymity that street-level crime requires starts to evaporate.

Recent studies from the Mural Arts Institute and the Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) have put numbers to what artists have known for centuries. In areas where public art is installed, total daytime crime has been shown to plummet by an average of 42%. Nighttime property crime drops by 40%. These aren't temporary "novelty" effects, either—they linger for up to seven years after the art is put in place.

Why?

Because art operationalizes what we call CPTED—Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. A monumental sculpture or a vibrant mural acts as a symbol of neighborhood pride and social order. It tells a would-be offender that this space is cared for, that it belongs to someone, and that someone is likely watching.

I saw this firsthand with my sculpture Windlord in Lansing. Before that 16-foot eagle was installed, that patch of the park was just a place people passed through. Once it was there, it became a landmark. People stopped. They gathered. They reclaimed the space.

In Portland, we have blocks that feel "barren"—what researchers call cultural deserts. When we leave these spaces empty, we are essentially inviting disorder. But when we invest in "cultural density," especially in lower-income neighborhoods, we see immediate returns. SIAP research found that culturally rich neighborhoods, even when controlling for income levels, had an 18% reduction in serious crime and significantly better health outcomes for the people living there.

This spatial stabilization leads directly to the bottom line. Homes in neighborhoods with high concentrations of cultural assets see property value increases that are nearly double those in culturally barren areas. That’s more tax revenue for our schools, our roads, and, yes, our public safety.

So, when I say we need to turn our distressed urban corridors into a "creative canvas," I’m not just looking for more places to show off my work. I’m suggesting a proven strategy for rebuilding the safety and vitality of our city.

We don't need to choose between "funding the arts" and "funding public safety." They are the same thing. Art is the "territorial reinforcement" that tells the world Portland is still here, still proud, and still watching.

The next time you walk past a mural or a sculpture, take a second to look around. You’ll see that you aren’t the only one stopping. And in that moment, the street is just a little bit safer for all of us.

Sincerely,

Martin Eichinger  Sculptor & Founder, Art at the Geode