Murals Matter More Than We Might Think

Colorful Legacy by Willis Nomo Humphrey & Keir Johnston / Philadelphia Mural Arts Program

Source: Steve Weinik / Public Art Archive

Co-authored with Vicente Estrada-Gonzalez

City dwellers often adapt to profoundly unnatural aspects of their environment. Traffic noise, air pollution, concrete surfaces, and crowded streets become the backdrop of everyday life. We habituate to them so thoroughly that we often don’t notice how unpleasant and potentially harmful they are.

Do we have to tolerate these urban assaults on our well-being? Moving to the countryside is one option—though unrealistic for many people. Alternatively, accessible clean transportation, thoughtful urban planning, and policies that reduce pollution and noise offer systemic ameliorations. While desirable and effective, these changes require considerable time and investment. Maybe one part of the solution to these urban maladies starts with something ordinary: the walls we walk past every day.

Art in Everyday Life

Art is often thought of as something nice to have, but ultimately nonessential. People can seek art in their free time, display it in their homes, or encounter it in museums and galleries. These activities require intention, leisure time, and disposable income, contributing to the perception that art engagement is a luxury with unclear practical value.

Public art, by contrast, is woven into daily life. Experiencing it does not require admission costs, specialized knowledge, or permission to engage with it. Although some public artworks spark controversy—think of Banksy's politically charged murals—cities increasingly commission and embrace public art. Murals, sculptures, and installations can interrupt the monotony of urban spaces and offer pockets of beauty, reflection, emotional engagement, and shared cultural meaning. Does public art also impact people’s perceptions of neighborhoods?

The Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia

Philadelphia offers an exceptional setting to consider this question. Its Mural Arts Program began in 1984 as part of the city’s Anti-Graffiti Network. Visionary Jane Golden worked with graffiti artists, redirecting their skills toward mural projects. What started as an anti-graffiti initiative evolved into a large community-based public-art program associated with beautification, civic participation, and neighborhood revitalization. Philadelphia now has more than 4,000 murals embedded in every sector of the city, earning its recognition as a global mural capital.

Individual murals can strengthen local identity, present overlooked histories, and bring communities together. Our recent research suggests that public art may also alter people’s immediate emotional experiences and their feelings about the surrounding city.

Our Study

We recently published a study comparing people's responses to locations with and without murals in two parts of Philadelphia: Center City and West Philadelphia. These neighborhoods differ in socioeconomic conditions, urban development, environmental quality, and access to cultural amenities (Estrada Gonzalez et al., 2026).

To measure how murals make people feel, we measured responses to buildings with and without murals using an aesthetic impact taxonomy that we developed (Christensen, Cardillo, Chatterjee, 2023). Murals elicited feelings of pleasure, calm, compassion, interest, inspiration, and understanding. These aesthetic benefits accrued in both neighborhoods, although they were more robust in the lower-socioeconomic-status neighborhood of West Philadelphia.

We also assessed perceptions of the neighborhood before and after participants viewed the murals. We focused on five dimensions relevant to urban quality of life: safety, interestingness, cleanliness, noise, and the apparent friendliness of residents.

The effects weren't the same in both locations. After visiting the murals, participants thought the less affluent area of West Philadelphia was safer and more interesting. They perceived the commercial district of Center City as having less trash and litter and being less noisy.

This pattern is revealing. Safety concerns and limited interesting cultural offerings may be especially conspicuous negative assumptions of less affluent urban areas; these were the dimensions that improved in West Philadelphia. Noise and litter may be more salient negative features of densely urbanized areas; these were the aspects of Center City that were assessed more positively after engaging with public art.

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Public art seemed to mitigate problems that were most prominent within each environment. Murals change not only what people see but also how they experience a place.

Bridging the Gap

Our research showed that perceptions of urban spaces are enhanced by public art. These findings are an invitation for governments, policymakers, and community organizations to invest more in public art programs like Philadelphia’s.

Recent evidence adds to these findings. In Berlin, Germany, researchers studied a publicly accessible neighborhood exhibition that pedestrians could view from the sidewalk. After engaging with it, participants felt more connected to the neighborhood, experienced less negative mood, and reported greater overall well-being (Kühnapfel et al., 2025). They also felt more connected to the neighborhood when the art was experienced as meaningful and understandable. In a large, diverse database of artwork that we created, we found that viewers were more engaged by images of Philadelphia murals than other forms of art, including examples of distinguished European and North American fine art (Estrada Gonzalez et al., 2025).

A mural does more than cover a blank wall. It directs attention, enhances positive feelings, communicates that a place is cared for, and helps people see neighborhoods more positively. Public art will not eliminate traffic, pollution, inequality, or urban neglect. It is not a substitute for environmental regulation, social investment, or responsible city planning. Yet, it is a relatively low-cost, accessible intervention that can be a valuable adjunct to larger-scale approaches to improving urban quality of life.