<nettime> Occlupy and Public Space

[Peter Marcuse <pm35@COLUMBIA.EDU>]

The occupation of key public spaces by Occupy Wall Street, as a means
of calling attention to more basic problems, raises questions of the
role of public spaces that need to be urgently dealt with. The basic
questions about the organization of society, democracy, inequality,
social justice, public priorities are deep-going and require long-term
answers. They should not be pre-empted by the immediate needs for
space, not should any space be fetishized. But spatial issues need to
be dealt with immediately and urgently.

I have tried to deal with these immediate questions in a new piece. I
argue that cities should give priority to uses of public space that
increase the ability of the people to participate actively and with
information in democratic governance. Such a priority can include
conventional reasonable time, place, and manner regulations, and could
be part of a comprehensive planned approach to the provision of public
space. Similar decisions on priorities for the use of public space
are constantly made in deciding on the placement of statues, memorial
plaques, street parades, festivals, electioneering, etc. They need to
be considered here.

Planners can have a significant role to play.

See OCCUPY AND THE PROVISION OF PUBLIC SPACE: THE CITY'S RESPONSIBILITY, 
available at pmarcuse.wordpress.com.

Comments more than welcome.

**

-- 
Peter Marcuse					
Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Columbia University
New York, N.Y. 10027
212 -- 854 3322

Home: 140 Greenwood Avenue
Waterbury, CT 06704
203 753 1140



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