The Differentiated and Negotiated Production of Urban Public Space: Contestation, Commercialization, and Everyday Life at Teras Samarinda, Indonesia
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Urban public spaces are socially produced through interactions among institutional arrangements, everyday practices, commercial activities, and lived meanings. This study examines the production of Teras Samarinda as an urban public space, focusing on multifunctionality, temporal variation, commercialisation, eventisation, and spatial contestation. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space, this qualitative case study employed direct observation, institutional document analysis, and public discourse analysis on Threads. Four observation sessions conducted between July and September 2026 captured different temporal conditions. Data were analysed using spatial coding, temporal comparison, and cross-source triangulation. Findings reveal that Teras Samarinda functions as a multifunctional space for recreation, social interaction, tourism, microenterprise activities, and events, with spatial practices varying across time. Events reshape spatial arrangements, while Threads discourse reveals competing perspectives on accessibility, mobility, livelihoods, cleanliness, and institutional responsibility. These dynamics generate contestation and negotiation over spatial functions, meanings, and responsibilities. The study introduces the concept of Differentiated and Negotiated Production of Urban Public Space, contributing to Lefebvrian scholarship by demonstrating how conceived, perceived, and lived spaces interact in continuously producing and negotiating urban publicness.
Institutions: Mulawarman University, Universitas Negeri Padang
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7225433751