The Challenge
For Newark, New Jersey, what was once world-class industrial eminence has today become a struggle to revitalize a concrete cityscape that poorly represents the vibrant people and cultures that call Newark home. One response was the “Gateways to Newark: Portraits” project, a nearly two-mile mural on the walls of the elevated railway stretching along one of the area’s major arteries. While Newarkers and stakeholders considered the merits of beautification a given, the City faced the challenge of justifying the project’s cost and importance in the face of other communal concerns.
