Human geographers have argued that despite the exclusions that are part of the public space, it can still be seen as a place where democracy becomes possible. Geographer Don Mitchell has written extensively on the subject of public space and its relationship to democracy, using Henri Lefebvre`s notion of the right to the city to articulate his argument. [7] Although democracy and public space do not fully coincide, it is the potential of their intersection that becomes politically important. Other geographers, such as Gill Valentine, have focused on performativity and visibility in public space, which implies a theatrical component or “space of appearance” central to the functioning of a democratic space. [8] Measures will be taken to make public spaces less attractive to them, including removing or designing benches to limit their use for sleeping and resting, restricting access at certain times, and locking down indoor or enclosed spaces. Police forces are sometimes involved in evicting “undesirable” members of the public from public spaces. In fact, people with disabilities are implicitly excluded from some rooms because they do not have appropriate access. A broader sense of public space or place also includes places where anyone can come if they pay, such as a café, train, or cinema. A store is an example of what lies in between: anyone can enter and look around without any obligation to buy, but activities that have nothing to do with the purpose of the store are not allowed indefinitely. If the public had no right to distribute leaflets or engage in other expressive activities on state property. There would then be little or no opportunity to exercise their right to freedom of expression.
These “semi-public” spaces may be subject to stricter rules than outside, for example in terms of dress code, commerce, begging, advertising, photography, propaganda, rollerblading, skateboards, Segways, etc. While it is generally accepted that everyone has the right to access and use public space, as opposed to private space, which may have limitations, there has been some academic interest in how public spaces are managed to exclude certain groups – particularly the homeless[5] and youth[6]. Filming in public spaces is legal, but shopping malls are privately owned and often require a permit for photography and video. In one of the new U.S. incarnations of public-private partnership, the Business Improvement District (BID), private organizations are allowed to tax local businesses and retail businesses so they can provide specialized private services such as policing and increased surveillance, garbage disposal or road rehabilitation, which were once under the control of public funds. In Nordic countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia, all natural areas are considered public spaces due to a law called allemansrätt (common right of way). A public place is a place to which the entire public has access and is not a place used exclusively for a private gathering or other personal purposes. In the United States, the right of people to express themselves and assemble in public places cannot be unreasonably restricted by the federal or state government. [3] The government generally cannot limit a person`s speech beyond what is reasonable in a public space considered a public forum (i.e. it is possible to stop shouting swear words at passers-by; religious proselytizing probably not). In a private, i.e. non-public, forum, the government can control its own speech to a much greater extent; For example, protesting one`s own opposition to Medicare reform is not tolerated in the gallery of the U.S.
Senate. This does not mean that the government can control what you say in your own home or to others; It can only control state property in this way. The notion of public forum is not limited to physical space or public property, for example, a newspaper could be considered a public forum, but see forum in the legal sense, since the term has some meaning in U.S. law. The lobbies and streets (including walkways) of a shopping centre can be declared a public place and can be opened when shops are closed. The same applies to public transport halls, platforms and waiting rooms; Sometimes a ticket is required. A public library is a public place. A rest area or truck stop is a public space. A private public space, also known as a private open public space (POPOS), is a public space open to the public but owned by a private entity, usually a commercial real estate developer. The transformation of public spaces into private public spaces is called the privatization of public space and is a common result of urban redevelopment. [9] Jürgen Habermas` conception of the public sphere links his emergence to the development of democracy. [13] The New Deal projects are a good example.
The New Deal was a brief period in the United States under the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who produced a large number of public works to promote employment during the Depression. However, the result was more than that. They formed a legacy of what has been called the cultural infrastructure of American public space. [14] New Deal projects have been credited with contributing significantly to the quality of American life and promoting unity among all aspects of the community. More recently, however, it has been argued that the democratic ideal of public life has deteriorated due to the use of public space. As our cities accelerate towards segregation (social, economic, cultural, ethnic), opportunities for public interaction diminish. John Chase writes: “The importance of voluntary and compulsory participation in civic life has been usurped by the awareness of the arbitrariness of assigned cultural meanings and by the increasingly important role that the consumption of goods and services plays in the formation of individual identity.” [15] Public space has also become a kind of touchstone of critical theory in relation to philosophy, urban geography, visual arts, cultural studies, social sciences and urban planning.
