Democracy and Public Space: The Physical Sites of Democratic Performance
- ISBN-10
- 0199214565
- ISBN-13
- 9780199214563
- Category
- Architecture
- Pages
- 246
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2012
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Author
- John Parkinson
Description
In an online, interconnected world, democracy is increasingly made up of wikis and blogs, pokes and tweets. Citizens have become accidental journalists thanks to their handheld devices, politicians are increasingly working online, and the traditional sites of democracy - assemblies, public galleries, and plazas - are becoming less and less relevant with every new technology. And yet, this book argues, such views are leading us to confuse the medium with the message, focusing on electronic transmission when often what cyber citizens transmit is pictures and narratives of real democratic action in physical space. Democratic citizens are embodied, take up space, battle over access to physical resources, and perform democracy on physical stages at least as much as they engage with ideas in virtual space. Combining conceptual analysis with interviews and observation in capital cities on every continent, John Parkinson argues that democracy requires physical public space; that some kinds of space are better for performing some democratic roles than others; and that some of the most valuable kinds of space are under attack in developed democracies. He argues that accidental publics like shoppers and lunchtime crowds are increasingly valued over purposive, active publics, over citizens with a point to make or an argument to listen to. This can be seen not just in the way that traditional protest is regulated, but in the ways that ordinary city streets and parks are managed, even in the design of such quintessentially democratic spaces as legislative assemblies. The book offers an alternative vision for democratic public space, and evaluates 11 cities - from London to Tokyo - against that ideal.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Public Space and Democracy
By Tracy B. Strong, Marcel HénaffThese essays make a powerful case for thinking of modern technological developments not as the end of public space, but as an opportunity for reframing the idea of the public and of the public space as the locus of power.
-
Public Space and Democracy
By Tracy B. Strong, Marcel HénaffBarber associates these developments broadly with the rise of consumerism and its concomitant retreat into privacy in a manner antithetical to democratic public space . The point , however , is not to lament the rise of Wal - Marts and ...
-
Public Space Democracy: Performative, Visual and Normative Dimensions of Politics in a Global Age
By Nilüfer GöleCity life and public spaces are indeed essential scenes for individual freedom and social interactions. They constitute the foundations of democratic polity, the “agora” of ancient Greek democracy. The notions of the public sphere, ...
-
The Empty Place: Democracy and Public Space
By Teresa HoskynsThe book then provides diverse perspectives on how the role of physical public space is articulated through three modes of participatory spatial practice.
-
City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy
By Jeffrey Hou, Sabine KnierbeinWhat do the recent urban resistance tactics around the world have in common? What are the roles of public space in these movements?
-
Democracy and the Public Space in Latin America
By Leonardo AvritzerTABLE 3.2 Consequences of Hybridism at the Public Level Cultural Element Institutional Element Hybrid Form broad ... room for democracy and alternative and informal practices that make what could have been a democratic public space into ...
-
Democracy and the Public Space in Latin America
By Leonardo Avritzer"This book makes significant contributions to the field, addressing key issues in comparative politics from a variety of perspectives and with a rich series of empirical referents.
-
The Politics of Public Space
By Neil Smith, Setha Low"The Politics of Public Space" assembles a superb list of contributors to explore the important political dimensions of public space as a place where conflicts over cultural and political objectives become concrete.
-
Ordinary Places/Extraordinary Events: Citizenship, Democracy and Public Space in Latin America
By Clara IrazabalBy exploring the use and meaning of public spaces in Latin American cities, this book sheds light on contemporary definitions of citizenship and democracy in the Americas.
-
The Open Space of Democracy
By Terry Tempest Williams... Susan Griffin , Maxine Hong Kingston , Marian McWhorter , Kirsten Michael , Jessica Miller , Marian Moore , Gael Murphy , Emily Nella , Carol Ann Nelson , Bonnie Rubenstein , Holly Shere , Helen Taylor , Donna Kaye Tharpe , Alice ...