The fight for PUBLIC SPACE
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“Global capital has reached such a point that both the physical and intellectual landscape have been completely
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purchased. To exist today means to tread on the property of others. The city has increasingly become a space


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completely built around consumerism. The freedom of expression has come to mean the freedom to adver-
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tise... When faced with such restriction, it’s inevitable that graffiti would become a political tool.”

issue
—The Thistle Volume 13, Number 4: June/July, 2001
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What is Public Space? of as ‘commons.’ The term ‘Public Space’ partnership, the business improvement
is also often misconstrued to mean other district (BID), private organizations
Public Space is a place where anyone things such as ‘gathering place,’ which is are allowed to tax local businesses and
has a right to be without being excluded an element of the larger concept. retail establishments so that they might
because of economic or social conditions, Beginning roughly in the 1960s, the provide special private services such
although this may not always be the case wholesale privatization of Public Space as policing and increased surveillance,
in practice. (especially in urban centers) has become trash removal, or street renovation, all
a fact of western society, and has faced of which once fell under the control of
One of the earliest examples of public criticism from citizen groups such as public funds and thus public interests.
spaces are commons. For example, no the Open Spaces Society. Private- Clearly these services are necessary; the
fees or paid tickets are required for entry, public partnerships have taken significant methods by which they are provided
nor are the entrants discriminated based control of public parks and playgrounds can be debated but not their ultimate
on background. Non-government-owned through conservancy groups set up to utility. Additionally, public areas facilitate
malls are examples of ‘private space’ with manage what is considered unmanage- public interaction, and their existence
the appearance of being ‘public space.’ able by public agencies. Corporate can scarcely be questioned in democratic
Public Space has also become something sponsorship of public leisure areas is states; we may debate how they are
of a touchstone for critical theory in rela- ubiquitous, giving open space to the provided, but to question their utility
tion to philosophy, (urban) geography, public in exchange for higher air rights. would seem to question our basic rights.
visual art, cultural studies, social studies This facilitates the construction of taller Privatization of public amenities should
and urban design. Its relevance seems to buildings with private parks, accessible not go unnoticed, whether in this form or
become more pressing as capital enclos- only to those deemed fit. In one of the the tacit co-opting of sights and sounds
es more and more of what were thought newer incarnations of the private-public known as advertising.
—Wikipedia
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