Setha Low's New Book Offers A Toolkit to Protect and Expand the Commons
Excerpt: 'Why Public Space Matters' by Setha Low
Synthesizing recent scholarship with four decades of fieldwork from across the Americas, urban anthropologist and professor Setha Low argues in her latest book that public space is integral to healthy, democratic, and sustainable communities. Addressing ongoing corporate privatization, development, and neglect, she provides a toolkit for communities to protect and expand their public spaces. Following is an excerpt from the third chapter.
The relationship between public space and democracy has a long history in Western thought, dating back to the earliest discussions of political questions. The agora in ancient Athens as a place of assembly for those empowered to speak has become metaphor for this relationship, notwithstanding its gender, race, and class exclusionary practices. The association of public space and social justice has a shorter history, based on claims to the right to be visible and heard and demands to be recognized and politically represented. Public parks and plazas reflect this association and often contain the reformist goals of justice-seeking city planners and designers. Contemporary histories and studies now emphasize the role that public space plays in struggles for social justice and how public spaces have become iconic of protest and resistance.
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