‘Six Imaginaries of Public Space’ – Antonia Layard

Urban Governance and its Discontents Seminar:
There is a crisis, it is often said, in the decline in public space. Delgado (2014) speaks for many when he writes: “The idea of public space as guarantee of democracy and space of liberty for citizens is now undergoing a profound crisis.” This is a growing, rather than a new, concern. Much of this has been tied to arguments about democracy and the city. This paper suggests that understandings of public space have perhaps inadvertently overemphasised one particular imaginary of public space: an urban, political and heroic space. It does not suggest that this understanding of public space does not matter. The paper supports arguments made by Mitchell (2014), for example, who has consistently argued that repressive practices lead to a reining in of imagination of what and who public spaces are for: “an orderly, controlled vision of public space is squeezing out other ways of imagining public spaces”.

However, this paper suggests that we need a more plural understanding of public spaces, which legal analysis can provide. From an English legal perspective, it considers six understandings of public space: public (state) property; privately owned (apparently) public spaces; highways; commons; rural “access land” (subject to the right to roam) and social spaces (particularly pubs and cafés). It does not suggest that such a typology is conclusive or final. Instead, the paper argues that such differentiation can begin to challenge the central role that property rights play in the agenda-setting of individual sites. To do this, however, the paper suggests that we would need to consider what kind of public spaces we would be suggesting (legislative) change for. And to do this, we need to understand the extent to which each different type of public space, is itself heavily dependent on its own imaginary. It concludes by calling for a clearer imaginary of social spaces with thought being given to how these types of associational places can be better legally protected and promoted.