...has been discussed by a variety of scholarly voices. Among the most prominent is Michel Foucault, who described the various ways that consumer markets circumscribe public spaces, placing important distinctions between class members. In particular, Foucault discusses heterotopia – the public space which carries both physical and psychological gravity. For Foucault, public spaces are characterized by existing without truly existing. The heterotopia serves as a metaphor for a larger context while having the appearance and characteristics of other everyday spaces. Tyndall takes this notion a step further by developing social rules that are attached to consumer places, such as malls and shopping districts (Tyndall, 2009). This version of consumer-driven rules – culled from qualitative research and personal interviews – depicts a new notion of public-ness that is less egalitarian than ever before. It is a version of public space that is not entirely open to the public. Baker adds to this perspective by historicizing the commercialization of public space, dating the use widespread use of public space for advertising purposes to before the dawn of the 20th century (Baker, 2007). This argument inextricably links the notion of “culture” with “consumerism”, and sets the stage for the potential for access to public spaces to be consumed, or purchased. Finally, Klingle underscores this spatial history of consumption, placing the transaction of consumer power contexts as diverse as Thoreau’s...
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...• Research Field Public spaces by their nature allow for the unfolding of real-life human dramas and the freedom of personal and social expression for both individuals and community groups. Carr for instance defines public spaces of a city such that its streets, footpaths, waterfronts, parks, plazas, town squares and laneways give form to the ebb and flow of human exchange and interaction (Carr et al, 1995). They are often where people find some of the most stimulating, exciting and worthwhile experiences of their lives (Beattie and Lehmann, 1994). The relationship between the public spaces and human behavior has been recognized for a long time. In order to explain its significance, psychologist Kurt Lewin argued that behaviors are not only...
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...PUBLIC SPACE FOR URBAN ART AND SOUND Underdeveloped and neglected public spaces are common site with great potential for urban art and sound development. Therefore when defining the urban context, we insisted on finding a potential in left-over space gap in an area with high mobility in the city center of Skopje. The site we chose is situated in a part of town with heavy infrastructure and traditional local neighborhoods, which gives the urban art a chance to emerge spontaneously. Initially designed as part of a large urban superstructure named the City Gate, Skopje’s Transportation Center never saw its full realization as such. It was erected in a position where several main infrastructural arteries come closest to one another, monumentally hovering above the street life level and avoiding interruptions with the everyday city circulation. In an overall design where the infrastructure was the desired measure for the architecture, this mega building was envisioned to be a place of interchange of different velocities and different means of transportation (trains, buses, pedestrian), designed to fulfill the needs of the region city rather than the ones of the city. Today, in the context of changed socio-political conditions, this proposal reuses the potentials of this exceptional urban and architectural utopia that Japan metabolism and Kenzo Tange have left us. A floating metal platform above the street level is placed among the massive concrete pillars of the mega...
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...“FOB’s vs. Twinkies: The New Discrimination is Interracial” and “Black Men and Public Spaces.” In the first article “FOB's vs. Twinkies”, written by Grace Hsiang, tells the stories Hsiang heard in her college psychology class. Most of the stories told by her classmates were their personal experiences. All of her classmate's stories surprised Hsiang because most of them were discriminated within their culture, or intraracial. In the second article “Black Men and Public Space,” written by Brent Staples, tells about his personal experience of discrimination in public places. The article was for Ms. Magazine. Staples was discriminated by other people...
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...western-style shopping malls, entertainment complexes and multinationals. However, the bigger part of the city is reflecting a total different image of the city. Three-quarters of Lagos residents live in informal settlements and gain their incomes from informal economies. Lagos portrays the paradoxical characteristics of the contemporary African city being dysfunctional yet a dynamic urban form’ (Un-habitat, 2007). Next to these extreme and difficult situations, the aesthetics of informality; its multi-layer scenes of urban everyday life and living in-between, is lately infiltrating into contemporary design thinking. On the one hand, the appearances of informal urbanism are crudely condemned as a shameful blemish of modernization and invasion of public spaces, yet on the other hand, celebrated as an amazing collage of complex urbanism which expresses the true nature of city and denounces the rational self-righteousness of planning (Kang, 2009, p. 249). Learning from the informal city is an academic new trend to explore alternatives of noneradicative urban renewal/ urban...
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...metropolises. The issue of their integration into local society has become a new topic for many researchers. Especially in China, with the thirty years of reform and open relations, a huge number of domestic immigrants have migrated into the big urban areas. They are facing many obstacles in their struggle to make a position in a new environment. Is there anything that the urban planners and designers can do to help them blend into the society and give them a sense of belonging and identity? This research will make efforts to address this question and discuss the relation between immigrants and urban environments, particularly the public open spaces by a series of research methodologies. Some literatures will be reviewed and discussed to give a general understanding of the relation between urbanisation and immigrants and the effects of public open space. Then, in order to narrow the research scope, the investigation of immigrants’ social integration condition will be conducted in Guangzhou which is one of the most developed metropolises in China with large amounts of domestic immigrants. Moreover, the white-collar immigrants were chosen as the main research target group. In general, “white-collar” refers to a salaried professional or an educated worker who performs semi-professional office, administrative, and sales coordination tasks, as opposed to a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor (Mills 1951). In this research, the term “white-collar” mainly indicates people...
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...HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IN PUBLIC SPACES By VENETIN AGHOSTIN-SANGAR THESIS Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Planning within the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of New South Wales, 2007 Sydney, NSW FACULTY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT BACHELOR OF PLANNING Declaration Relating to Disposition of Undergraduate Thesis This is to certify that I, Venetin Aghostin-Sangar, being a student for the degree of Bachelor of Planning, am aware that the University reserves the right to retain at its own discretion the copy of my thesis submitted for examination. I consent to the thesis being placed in the Faculty Library, to be consulted there and to part(s) of this thesis being quoted in manuscripts or typescripts for the purpose of scholarship or research, provided my authorship is acknowledged. In the light of the Copyright Act (1968) I declare that I wish to grant the University further permission for the following actions provided my authorship is acknowledged: • Copy or allow others to copy in any medium the whole of the thesis for the purpose of scholarship or research; or • Publish or allow others to publish, the whole of the thesis. Signature: ……………………………………………………………………… Witness: ……………………………………………………………………… Date: 23rd February 2007 ii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to all those who dedicated their valuable time to assist in furthering the ideas that form this thesis. A sincere...
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...In the reading James S. Duncan describes prime and marginal spaces as safe and unsafe locations for the tramps. Prime spaces are private and public zones determine by the moral norms of our society as a whole which has the capacity to exclude the tramps. In other words, prime spaces are areas that society gives a specific value according to the use of it, where tramps/homeless are not welcome; non safe locations for tramps with potential harassment from the police and muggers. For example: Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito, Tiburon, The Young Museum, Japanese Tea Garden, Lombard Street, etc. are high tourist traffic places of San Francisco. You will rarely/never see a tramp in this locations during everyday rush hours. On the other hand, marginal...
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...Aamnah Ahmad | CD-711/2012 Art Politics | Ayesha Omar Karachi is a melting pot of people with different backgrounds, beliefs, lifestyles and cultures. The incredible variety that one can find in this city is what makes it the most dynamic and interesting, which is exactly the kind of basis that is required for introducing and producing art of all kinds. By making arts and cultural activities an integral part of the fabric of the city, we will not only be able to help this diversity to grow and thrive creatively, but it will also play an instrumental role in strengthening community bonds by involving people and facilitating interactions and collaborations that will allow new and innovative ideas and experiments to develop. Involving the people in various cultural activities and art projects is a noninvasive and efficient way to start to bridge the vast gap that is felt between the different communities that inhabit Karachi and allows everyone’s opinions and thoughts to be heard and projected in a more creative and far interesting manner. For arts and other cultural activities to become that seamlessly integrated into our daily lives, the funding will also need to come from the people, for the people. As in Brazil’s art funding model, some percentage of the tax payer’s money is allocated by a nonprofit organization to provide the people with access not just to basic necessities but also to art, music and other cultural activities that they can indulge and participate in. The...
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...Raven Pitchford Chad Poovey English 112 5 Februaury 2013 Black Men and Public Space In his essay, Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Stables a black man who whenever went somewhere, was a big frighten to the people in his surrounding areas. His essay tells how many people assumed that every black was dangerous. Being judge for the skin tone make people feel uncomfortable to be around the next race. Brent talks about being stereotyped, his childhood, and precautions. Brent catches the reader attention by helping them to see what it was like, by painting a vivid picture. Brent Stables is saying that black men are being deeply stereotyped as a dangerous individual to society. Because black men have a reputation of being rapist, murders, and gang members, therefore, many people worry when they see black men come around. Brent assumed that he was a rapist and mugger, because tot the people, he was considered as a dangerous person to the people he saw at the beginning of the story. Being out during the dark, the only thought that came to people mind was, he is a criminal.” For example, his first victim was a white woman, who was afraid of him because of his color. He was walking behind her and she away into the streets. The second misunderstanding that made them think that he was dangerous was, when he was walking cross the street he heard drivers, black, white, male, or female hammering down the door locks (208). As a child, Brent came of age in Chester, Pennsylvania...
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...Daniel Dadivas BSBA II “Graffiti Art and Public Space” Good morning everyone, I’m sure almost everyone here has distinguished whether graffiti is a form of art or an act of vandalism. Some call it art others just call it against the law; no matter what you call it graffiti is a defining aspect of today's urban environment. However, have you ever looked past those opinions to see what this collaboration of spray paints is trying to express? Graffiti art is a form of communication and self-expression. On the other hand, isn’t this so called form of art defacing public property? I’m not sure if you caught the irony in my last question, but how can we deface something these considered the public? Graffiti or Urban art is a form of artwork that’s beautifying our world by using every wall as their canvas of choice. Now that I have given you a brief introduction about Graffiti, let us now look at some basic applications of how graffiti is a form of expression. Many murals in Bacolod City serve as a purpose in opening the eyes of the residents of urban culture. Many murals, tags, throw ups and pieces have the power to move society out of their comfort zone and privileged them in seeing through the eyes of the artist. Through abstract collaborations of creative motions, they can see the harsh realities and taboos that conflict, influence, damage and tear apart the lives of your fellow human beings. According to Timothy Werwath of the New York Times...
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...Black Men and Public Spaces by Brent Staples (1986) My first victim was a woman – white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties. I came upon her late one evening on a deserted street in Hyde Park, a relatively affluent neighborhood in an otherwise mean, impoverished section of Chicago. As I swung onto the avenue behind her, there seemed to be a discreet, uninflammatory distance between us. Not so. She cast back a worried glance. To her, the youngish black man – a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket – seemed menacingly close. After a few more quick glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest. Within seconds she disappeared into a cross street. That was more than a decade ago. I was twenty-two years old, a graduate student newly arrived at the University of Chicago. It was in the echo of that terrified woman's footfalls that I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance I'd come into-the ability to alter public space in ugly ways. It was clear that she thought herself the quarry of a mugger, a rapist, or worse. Suffering a bout of insomnia, however, I was stalking sleep, not defenseless wayfarers. As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken – let alone hold it to a person's throat – I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once. Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny. It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable...
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...When it comes to public spaces, there are certain places that make you feel a lot more secure and comfortable than others. With this in mind, the place I feel the safest and most comfortable at it is my home, due to the fact that once I get home, I can just unwind do what I have to do and enjoy every second of it. What makes me feel so sheltered and snug is not the fact that I have a roof over my head, but it is the fact that my family is present in the same place as I am even if we are not at home. To illustrate, one day my family and I went camping and of course I was scared because I was young and it was going to be my first camping, even though it was a whole new area to me my family made it feel like a home because we did everything as...
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...Fernando Mercado English 101 August 20,2013 Black Men and Public Spaces In Black Men and Public Spaces,” Brent Staples is a black man who whenever in public is met with fear from “others because of his race's stereotype. Staples has the ability to alter public space by his physical behavior, his dress and his verbal reaction. Black men have a reputation of being rapist, murders and gang members how to change his perception or level of threat to others. He accomplishes this by his physical behavior. In his essay “Black Men and Public Space”, Brent Staples attempts to introduce people to something most all are guilty of, but pay little attention to. Using accounts from his own and others’ experiences, Staples essay portrays the racist tendency of people to assume black men are potentially violent and dangerous. Therefore many people get worried when a young black man is around. He’s since realized how people view him when he’s on the streets. If he happened to be entering a building behind some people who appear skittish, he’ll walk by letting them clear the lobby before he returns so as not to seem to be following them. He’s even had to change the way he walks just so people wouldn’t suspect him of doing anything. For example one of his most frightening confusions occurred in late 1970’s when he worked as a journalist in Chicago. One day he was rushing in the office with a magazine deadline in hand. He was then mistaken for a burglar...
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...The narrator, in Brent Staples' Black Men and Public Spaces, finds himself bothered by the fear response that he invokes in others. He attributes this response to his being black. He too though shows himself to get caught up in the fear of stereotypes, attributing their response to his skin color and failing to see the natural fear response that is evoked in people when they are in a situation that is unfamiliar to them, and through conditioning, perceive it to be threatening to their fundamental, all encompassing, humanistic need to survive. He overlooks these details in many situations. Because he feels that they are stereotyping him based on the color of his skin he allows himself to get upset over these situations rather than understand them. He speaks of giving other subway goers room to ease their worries about his skin color but it has become natural for subway goers to be weary of other passengers because of the extensive amount of talk or writing that goes around about all of the subway fatalities and incidents that occur by men and women, whites and minorities, young and old and even the ones that appear to be normal and the ones that obviously seem disturbed. Him running into the office of a magazine he works for with a deadline paper in hand and being thought to be a burglar is also something he attributes to his race; "Black men trade tales like this all the time" (para10). He fails to make a paralleling scene in which a white man is running into the office of a...
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