Challenging the ‘End of Public Space’: A Comparative Analysis of Publicness in British and Dutch Urban Spaces
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: The increasing involvement of the private sector in the design and management of urban public space has prompted some critical scholars to predict the ‘end of public space’. This study reassesses the implications of private sector involvement through a comparative analysis of British and Dutch urban spaces, based on a threefold critique of the existing literature on the privatization of public space. The analysis is governed by a new model of pseudo-public space that consists of four dimensions of ‘publicness’: ownership, management, accessibility and inclusiveness (OMAI). The findings suggest that, while there are significant differences between the British and the Dutch cases, neither context supports the notion of a possible ‘end of public space’ in any literal sense.
Source: Journal of Urban Design
Authors: Florian Langstraat, Rianne Van Melik
Institutions: University of Amsterdam, Radboud University Nijmegen
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2067274129