The first multidisciplinary seminar in the Kellogg Urban Knowledge Exchange series. Why would anyone want a fifty-metre horse in the middle of a shopping centre? Is visibility over-rated? Is it more pleasurable to accidentally turn a corner and discover an artwork?

Is it more productive to understand the city itself as a work of art? This seminar sets out to help define where and why Public Art works - working closely with its building and environmental context – and where it does not. Britain has a splendid tradition of public art but in the last 50 years has also seen some sadly inappropriate installations all over the country that have given the genre a bad name. We have asked some passionate and diverse speakers to share their knowledge, research and above all, their views on the subject.

This is the first of our series on key urban issues affecting society today.