Philadelphia’s recovery from twentieth century deindustrialization is visible in its vibrant downtown streets and gentrifying surrounding neighborhoods. But north of the central district the fabric remains tattered, evidence of persistent disinvestment, depopulation, and poverty. In some places the street grid is so deeply decomposed as to lose its shape and holding power; in others there are marks of creative endeavor that have been able to sustain a vital public realmPublic realm. The essay looks at how an historic Philadelphia corridor that is at the core of one neighborhood has adapted to adverse conditions by sustaining the life of the street through creative tactics. As local merchants have established their right to the city by appropriating sidewalks for informal commerce, so have the arts in various forms intervened transforming blighted streets and abandoned lots into compelling expressions of beauty. Recognizing that the esthetic response to the continuing challenges of poverty and disinvestment is insufficient for full transformation, the participation of activist designers and planners has helped to envision how the social and physical dimensions can be re-embedded into space inflected by art. In this conceptualization the works of public artPublic art cease to function as objects; rather they recede to become an infrastructureInfrastructure that supports a work of life.