Social Justice in Public Space
At CultureHouse, we believe that urban design can be used for the common good, and that good design should be an essential part of the toolkit for social justice. Social justice issues, be they heterosexism or racism or environmental injustice, are influenced by the built environment of our cities. We think that fact should be at the forefront of the minds of designers, planners, and community organizers.
This year, we’re highlighting key academics, activists, books, issues, and theories in the area of justice-focused urban design. We hope that by the end of the year, we’ll all (you included) be a little more knowledgeable on how our work can create the conditions for a just city.
Many urbanists believe public space is where justice and democracy are acted out. Public space is a nuanced idea that allows us to explore the intersection of many issues of justice with the urban form, raising questions like “What do we mean by public?”, “How do public spaces change based on culture and era?” and “How do public spaces influence behavior?” All these questions are important points of reflection in a society that is becoming increasingly privatized.
A good place to start when thinking about justice is French researcher Stephane Tonnelat’s literature review of the sociology of urban public space. He breaks public space down into five categories, all of which allow for different areas of inquiry:
The street pushes us to explore “the relationship between public space and the form of the city”
The commercial center “raises the question of accessibility and will help us discuss the limits of public spaces managed by private owners”
The cafe and the square highlight “two specific forms of communication, the conversation and the demonstration”
The train station provides a “link between mobility and public space”
The park urges us to see “design projects as ‘public problems’ and the role of citizens’ participation in the design of the city”
These categories are helpful when thinking what we really mean by “public space”. To do this, Tonnelat lays out the distinctions between the different forms of public space as well as their assets and liabilities. For example, commercial spaces are an important arena and bring people together for both necessary and optional activities. However, they have limits as a public space because they are commercialized (their commercial element is both a draw and a deterrent).
One more specific sociological work on public space is Lyn Lofland’s 1973 book A World of Strangers: Order and Action in Public Space which connects ideas of socialization and spatial meaning to the urban form. Lofland attempts to answer the following questions:
Given the stranger-filled character of cities, how is it possible for people to live in them?
Within the context of the order that makes city living possible, how do people live?
One major way that people live is through urban learning. Lofland examines both how the knowledge of city meanings is acquired, “which allows the individual to identify surrounding strangers” and how the skills are acquired “which allow him to utilize his knowledge as he moves among these strangers”.
The second episode of the podcast Ways of Hearing explores how the ways we interact in the city are changing since Lofland’s time. The podcast describes how since the advent of headphones and mobile devices, you can walk through public space and still maintain a separateness from it by blocking out noise and signaling to others that you should be left alone.
Architect Jan Gehl also provides interesting analysis of public space. His phrase “life between buildings” demonstrates how buildings can’t be seen in isolation — you must consider the people and life that exists between them. But it’s not that the buildings are unimportant, it’s that their effects are far-reaching and complex. The way the buildings are structured changes the life that can exist between them. Through connecting to design to human behavior, Gehl illustrates public space’s wide-reaching impact and promotes design parameters for livable public spaces.
