Urban Public Space

2593 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A personal essay on personal space

Le Corbusier was serious when he suggested that a “truly modern street will be as well equipped as a factory. In this street, the best equipped model is the most thoroughly automised with no people except for those operating machines. In the city of the future, cafes and places of recreation [public space] will no longer be the fungus that eats up the pavements of [the city] the macadam will belong to the traffic alone” (See Figure 1). This comment seems drastic, though as the modern world develops into a society that is more introverted and private, these spaces of public display and freedom, one day may turn into those envisioned. Throughout history, public space has formed the backdrop to public life, accessible for all, for both commercial and social exchange. While public spaces can take many forms, the common grounds on which they stand is general. It’s where people have gathered for centuries through the presence of music, art, food, discussion and festive celebrations or simply a place for a person to purely exist. Whether the public space comes in a form of streets, squares, parks or public buildings, it is in these places where the drama of communal life & human social exchange unfolds (Slessor 2001, Perrem, 2011 & Carr, 1992). Needs of these types of spaces have been displayed throughout history and their existence has defined and shaped the cities at the centre of their social organization (Cuthbert 2003 & Slessor, 2001). Today, the private places of work, domestic life and technology advances in movement and communication are consuming the essential counterpart of private existence (Cuthbert, 2003) Society lives in a very nine-to-five characterization which has created a large separation of public and private spher...

... middle of paper ...

... onto the whole of society. When public space for public life is neglected, people become isolated, eroding any sense of communal sprit and cohesion in a community (Slessor 2001). Excessive neglect may create this vision. Although, as our cities and lifestyles change so do our definitions of public space. Original concepts of form and function are being replaces as we claw back every available corner into the public realm, is it possible to find new ways to spend our leisure time in the public urban environment? (Gaventa 2003). It is evident with further research that the recent attitude towards public space is beginning to alter. Expressed by A.E.J Morris “In terms of town planning the [public space] represents the purest and most immediate expression of man’s fight against being lost in a gelatinous world, in a disorderly mass of urban dwellings’’(Perrem 2011).

Show More
Related

  • Sidewalks of New York City

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    When being combined, these interactions altogether release certain essential social force that pushes the sidewalk subculture to a more concrete state, in which less men choose to give up and to be drawn into the "fuck it!" mental state. And as the author pointed out at the conclusion, "the people working on Sixth Avenue are persevering. They are trying not to give up hope. We should honor them." (317)

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jane Jacobs The Death And Life Of Great American Cities

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    For Jacobs these four keys started just outside the front door, she recognised the importance the street had in cultivating diversity as well as how a lack of safety on the streets could impact it negatively, “The problem of sidewalk and doorstep insecurity is as serious in cities which have made conscientious efforts at rebuilding as those in cities that have lagged” (J. Jacobs …). Although efforts were often made by planners to make the streets safer she felt they missed the mark and that in some ways districts were even tailor made for easy crime. The orthodox approach was that if green space such as a park was provided nearby then it would provide an area for safe play and recreation within the city, however it was often the case that the issues of insecurity on the streets spilled over into the parkland as well. “It is futile to try to evade the issue of unsafe cities by attempting to make

    Read More

  • Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    The sidewalk is a social structure for the people who work and live in it. They are mentors for each other. They play the same role of self-direction and psychological fulfillment of a formal job or family for example; where the society is shrunken on that one sidewalk. They form an informal social organization and social control so they can survive against the outer social system; meanwhile, this social organization organizes property rights and division of labor. Although their life seems deviant, they still practice conventional social practices and norms. Although it might seem that these men are engaged in random behavior, yet there is an organized interaction of norms and goals, and a shared collective self-consciousness from having a shared common history.

    Read More

  • Song of Myself by Walt Whitmas

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most people awake to a daily routine, in which they keep eyes dazed staring at the pavement they walk on yet so easily ignore. Usually, these same people go about their business with no more than a passing glance towards their fellow man. However, there is an enigmatic few that are more than mere pawns in the game of existence. They are passionate spectators who take in their surroundings with every sense. They rejoice in the vastness of the electric crowd and become one with it. By all means, these few can be called ‘idle city men’ or, according to Charles Baudelaire’s 1863 essay “The Painter of Modern Life”, they are flâneurs. I believe a worthy example of a man such as this, is the persona in Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”. He is a flâneur in all ways but one.

    Read More

  • White Public Space

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Elements of minority cultures are continually hijacked, re-invented and commercialized until the origin and cultural significance becomes unknown to its consumers. Notably, languages and dialects such as Spanish and African American Vernacular English, often crossover into popular culture and mainstream media. In Jane H. Hill text, “Language, Race, and White Public Space,” Hill points to the appropriation of Spanish by Whites through the usage of “Mock Spanish,” a mix between English and Spanish. According to Hill, Mock Spanish is harmful because it reduces Spanish to a colloquialism and reproduces stereotypes that construct “white public spaces” in which it is only acceptable for white people to use Spanish. In the same way that Mock Spanish is a “racist discourse,” the crossover of African American Vernacular English into popular culture is pervasive and dangerous because it erases the voices of black people and belittles the cultural significance of African American Vernacular English in Black

    Read More

  • Similarities Between 'George V And The Guardian'

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    Brisbane is a city that embraces the idea of public sculptures in the streets, which can be inspiring to fellow artists and people of Brisbane. Specifically, 'George V' and 'The Guardian' are to be compared and contrasted in their successes of enriching the community of Brisbane and influencing the people. Supporters and people of the city claim that both public arts enhance the streets although in very different ways. While both 'George V' and 'The Guardian' portrays a figure of some kind, 'George V' is more concerned with history while 'The Guardian' focuses on its symbolisms and objects that are shown.

    Read More

  • Privatizing the Public Sphere

    1560 Words  | 4 Pages

    Historically, the city was an all-encompassing entity. At the dawn of industrialization, large masses of people flocked to the city in hopes of a better economic life for themselves and their families. It was within the city limits, particularly closest to the areas of commerce and exchange that people took up residence, worked, and pursued various social activities. The city served the needs of all its citizens. However, as industrialization moved further along, there was a major shift in urban economics. While many businesses flourished, so did wealth and as this increased, society faced an evolving class system. Three notable classes emerged: the lower/working class, the middle class, and the upper/elite class. While these class divisions grew, a large amount of money was being invested in the creation of public venues. Public institutions were designed to bring education, culture, and in many ways, a sense of community to modern city life. A public park or library was a place that people of various classes could come together and share space. However, by the end of the Twentieth century and into the Twenty-First, true public space is becoming almost extinct, as is the middle class. Privatized public space has become the new trend across many American cities.

    Read More

  • The Power of Place

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tony Hiss Author of The Experience of Place brings to our attention that as humans “We react, consciously or unconsciously, to the places where we live and work, in ways we scarcely notice or that are only now becoming known to us…In short, the places where we spend our time affect the people we are and can become.” Place defines characteristics in both human and extended moral communities. Place is not necessarily specific to gender, race, generation or specie. This understanding and recognition of place is fundamental when thinking about institutionalizing ecological and social responsibility.

    Read More

  • Walt Disney Concert Hall

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    But how does one even begin to fathom what makes a public space worthy to the users and the city? Is it purely the design of the building? Or is it the function of the building? Or is it in fact how the function of the desired spaces and the vision of the designer work together to create the experience?

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Henri Lefebvre's Right To The City

    2463 Words  | 5 Pages

    Urban dwellers should use value space as the main consideration while creating urban space. In this text, the right to appropriation dismisses the idea of private ownership of urban space. It is against private ownership of urban space for capitalist production (Lefebvre, 1996). Therefore, Lefebvre’s vision about the right to the city is a radical renovation of urban social and spatial relations. In this way, it would be able to transform present liberal-democratic citizenship relations and the capitalist social relations. The right to appropriation would transform these relations as explained by Lefebvre. The central model of citizenship is completely upended by Lefebvre’s idea of the right to participation. Lefebvre’s notion involves much more than the simple enlargement of the already existing liberal-democratic citizenship because of governance change. It the change of citizenship that matters other factors may also change in case there is change in urban governance. This means that urban inhabitance can directly confront the national citizenship as the central basis for political connection. Urban inhabitance has direct influence on political membership (Lefebvre, 1996). For example, citizens of Vietnam, U.S, and Mexico can equally become members of a particular city. They have the right to be inhabitants despite being immigrants. If they are in certain city

    Read More

  • The Metropolis And The Mental Life By Georg Simmel Summary

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the “Metropolis and the Mental Life”, Georg Simmel aims to explicate the confines and conventions of modern life. Simmel accomplishes this as he compares modern life in a metropolis with that of the countryside, noting the behaviours and characteristics of people in response to external factors. Simmel explains this by explicitly detailing how social structures affect certain personal connections. Several prominent themes of urban living are investigated and considered by Simmel in his article, the main points, harshness of the metropolis, modernity and subjective and objective cultures, are discussed in this essay.

    Read More

  • Architectural Utopia or Dystopia?

    2400 Words  | 5 Pages

    Le Corbusier. The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1987

    Read More

  • Urban Environment: A Restorative Environment

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the other hand, nature elements are proven to restore attentional fatigue and contribute both psychological and physiological benefits (Hartig et al., 2003; Ulrich & Simons, 1986; Ulrich et al., 1991). R. Kaplan and Kaplan (1989) proposed a restorative environment requires four features: being away, extent, fascination and compatibility to promote recovery from attentional fatigue. In natural environment, urban dwellers can obtain a sense of freedom from daily routine and projects that require massive mental efforts (being away). Nature usually has abundant and coherent landscape structures. It encompasses trails for exploration (extent), and many attractive elements, such as: animals, trees or plants, water features (fascination), and it

    Read More

  • The Natural History Of Urbanization By Lewis Mumford Summary

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sociologist … explained that open pattern of suburb is because of seeking environment free noise, dirt and overcrowding that are in the centre of cities. He gave examples of these cities as St. John’s wood, Richmond, Hampstead in London. Chestnut Hill and Germantown in Philadelphia. He added that suburban are only for the rich and high class. This plays into the hands of the critical perspectives that, “Cities are not so much the product of a quasi-natural “ecological” unfolding of social differentiation and succession, but of a dynamic of capital investment and disinvestment. City space is acted on primarily as a commodity that is bought and sold for profit, “(Little & McGivern, 2013, p.616).

    Read More

  • Post Modern Architecture Essay

    2318 Words  | 5 Pages

    “This issue was also a concern of Jane Jacobs, author of The Life and Death of Great American Cities. In her book, Jacobs accused Le Corbusier, one of the pioneers of the movement, of an inhumane planning process that did not properly consider those who were to live in the planned developments. She claimed the modernist aesthetic to be dull, and her writing promoted the street, in particular the pavement, as a place where a community can meet, socialize, and control their own privacy.” -- The rise and fall of modernist architecture, By Hayley A. Rowe 2011, vol. 3 no. 04 | pg.

    Read More

More about Urban Public Space

Open Document