Abstract of the chapter
Two recurrent theses in the recent literature about public space are the following: first, ‘public space’ has a central role in the ‘public sphere’ creation (where public sphere is the locus of public debate and collective exchange of opinions); second, public space is today subject to a privatization process (due to the development of new types of private settlements such us shopping malls and ‘contractual communities’ like homeowners residential associations). These two established theses are for several reasons unconvincing: first, there is no necessary causal relation (and surely no necessary and sufficient causal relation) between ‘public space’ and the ‘public sphere’ (this is even more true nowadays, thanks to the development of the new information technology); second, no ‘privatization of public space’ is actually under way (on the contrary, an increasing ‘collectivization process of private space’ is taking place thanks to contractual communities and shopping malls). Rejecting the above-mentioned theses does not, however, imply denying the fundamental importance of public space for our cities, but simply appeals for a different kind of defence of it. Our point in particular is that the necessity of public space is above all dependent upon its ‘functional’ value (which has paradoxically been pushed into the background in recent debates), whereas its ‘symbolic’ value is merely secondary.
Book description
The book collects contributions of prominent international scholars offering innovative outlooks on one of the currently most debated interdisciplinary themes in planning, i.e. the ethics of the built environment. The volume bridges these disciplinary domains without privileging any normative perspective, in doing so offering broad yet essential critical instruments to a wide audience. It establishes new lines of inquiry for, in particular, investigating values as design factors in a domain in which this theme has found less rigorous definition in comparison to others (e.g. IT technology and industrial design). It offers a set of rigorous theoretical perspectives on urgent topics with regards to planning (risks, aesthetics, duties and rights of users, etcetera) through which both scholars and practitioners can gain valid critical instruments to approach real planning cases
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