Expanding Landscapes: An Exploration of Large-scale Privately Owned Public Spaces

Ownership of public space and “the right to public space” are important matters of consideration for planners given the social, economic, and political undercurrents driving the contemporary America city (Miller, 2012). Early city design encompassed this concept by including large public areas for people to gather publically, often in the form of squares and plazas. With the trend towards globalization, the privatization of public spaces is diminishing the amount of public land available to public use. In his introduction to Variations on a Theme Park, Michael Sorkin attributes the new global economy to creating “a city without a place attached to it” naming it “ageographical” and being in a very “advanced condition in the United States (1992).” The sprawling city no longer needs open public spaces, with televisions for entertainment and the Internet for interaction. Shopping malls and office atria being the only places of random social interaction, Sorkin criticizes public space as a function of ability to pay. This description of privatizing public space that is present in all urban downtowns. In a sense, the public desire for goods was satisfied by giving up the “city” through the conversion of public lands. The purpose of this research is to answer the question, “Is privately owned public space, still public?”

Date

2016-05

Resource Type

Text

Resource Subtype

Masters Project
Applied Research Paper

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