scholarly journals Civil Liberties and the Regulation of Public Space: The Case of Sidewalks in Las Vegas

2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Blumenberg ◽  
Renia Ehrenfeucht
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Public Places ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
Public Behavior ◽  
Almost All

Conflicts over the nature of and rights associated with public space have a long history and have prompted numerous regulatory responses. Perhaps nowhere in the USA has the regulation of public space been as far-reaching as in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the financial stakes associated with sidewalks are enormous. This study examines how local officials mediate among varied and competing uses of the sidewalk. In defining the function of the sidewalks narrowly and passively deferring questions of civil liberties, local officials have effectively controlled almost all aspects of public behavior. In recent years, cities have invested in major commercial realization projects. Evidence from this case study suggests that, if successful, these developments will engender more extensive regulation of public life and the further curtailment of the freedoms traditionally guaranteed to citizen activity in public places.

Interfaith Dialogue in Silicon Valley

2019 ◽  
pp. 272-292
Author(s):  
Annapurna Devi Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Silicon Valley ◽  
Public Culture ◽  
Public Places ◽  
The Public ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Identity And Agency ◽  
The Usa

Silicon Valley, known as the technology hub of the USA, has emerged as a medley of places of religious worship. It has become a home to wealthy Indian Americas and to many gods and goddesses who have come to reside there as well. Indian Americans have contributed significantly to the mushrooming of temples in this region. This chapter attempts to answer the following questions: How does diaspora provide a space to reconstruct the identity of the women practitioners? How does religion enable them to negotiate their roles in the public space? In this chapter, the author argues that Hindu women in the diaspora play a very significant role in selectively performing religious rituals in public places of worship as brought from their homeland. In performing these rituals, women are creating a distinct space in mainstream public culture to reconstruct their identity and agency beyond their roles as homemakers and professionals. In this specific case study, Odia women living in Northern California are not only reshaping their traditions but are engaged in interreligious dialogue in Silicon Valley corporate culture.

scholarly journals Lessons For Toronto From Melbourne’s City Centre Revitalization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Gilliard
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Physical Quality ◽  
Social Quality

Public space is important to a city’s economic and social quality. Downtown Toronto is not known for its public spaces but Melbourne is widely recognized for recently revitalizing its city centre with improved public spaces. A case study of Melbourne investigates its comparability to Toronto as well as the details of its "renaissance." It is concluded that Melbourne is, in fact, highly comparable to Toronto. Interventions in Melbourne were characterized by the principles: long-term vision, emphasizing local strengths, investment in quality, making space for people on foot, and using effective arguments and evidence. To emulate Melbourne’s city-centre revitalization, Toronto first should facilitate a civic conversation about the long-term vision for its downtown; second, it should initiate a public life survey of the downtown; third, it should invest is the physical quality of downtown public spaces; and fourth, it should begin an incremental program to reclaim roadway space from cars in locations of high pedestrian use.

G-Level Open Space - a Case Study of NFHY Community in Chong Qing

2011 ◽  
Vol 255-260 ◽  
pp. 1353-1357
Author(s):  
Xu Jia Li ◽  
Zhi Yong Deng ◽  
Ye Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Interior Space ◽  
Building Regulations ◽  
Southeast China ◽  
The Government

G-level open space is an effective way to create more open space for public congregation and community life in densely populated cities like Chong Qing, and compact neighborhoods like NFHY. One prototype for modern G-level open space of NFHY was the traditional housing in southeast China; the other was the worldwide modern architectural movement, especially Le Corbusie’s work. Compared to other kinds of open space, G-level open space is distinctive in its dualism; it has the qualities of both interior space and public space. Findings in NFHY show that, with it peculiar space quality, G-level open space integrated private life and public life, making the space more attractive to the residents, especially seniors and children. In order to encourage the developers to incorporate more of this kind of open space in their projects, the government needs to make some compromise on building regulations.

scholarly journals The role of ethnic malls in placemaking: a case study of First Markham Place

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Liu
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Ethnic Community ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Cultural Goods ◽  
Shopping Centres

This study examines the role and effectiveness of suburban, ethnic shopping centres in providing an alternative to public space. It is a response to the suburb's lack of good public spaces, and the resulting lack of community and sense of place, and is informed by the development of 'ethnoburbs' across North America. This study explores themes revealed by both literature and a series of field observations and intercept interview. A case study analyzing First Markham Place and how its mall patrons use the space revealed implications regarding the effectiveness of these malls as public spaces. The author found that the mall's role as a community hub provides opportunities to satisfy both practical and innate desires for cultural goods, services, and co-ethnic interactions, encourages a 'public life' not seen in conventional suburban malls, and creates a unique sense of place for members of the target ethnic community as well as non-members.

scholarly journals The role of ethnic malls in placemaking: a case study of First Markham Place

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Liu
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Ethnic Community ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Cultural Goods ◽  
Shopping Centres

This study examines the role and effectiveness of suburban, ethnic shopping centres in providing an alternative to public space. It is a response to the suburb's lack of good public spaces, and the resulting lack of community and sense of place, and is informed by the development of 'ethnoburbs' across North America. This study explores themes revealed by both literature and a series of field observations and intercept interview. A case study analyzing First Markham Place and how its mall patrons use the space revealed implications regarding the effectiveness of these malls as public spaces. The author found that the mall's role as a community hub provides opportunities to satisfy both practical and innate desires for cultural goods, services, and co-ethnic interactions, encourages a 'public life' not seen in conventional suburban malls, and creates a unique sense of place for members of the target ethnic community as well as non-members.

scholarly journals Lessons For Toronto From Melbourne’s City Centre Revitalization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Gilliard
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Physical Quality ◽  
Social Quality

Public space is important to a city’s economic and social quality. Downtown Toronto is not known for its public spaces but Melbourne is widely recognized for recently revitalizing its city centre with improved public spaces. A case study of Melbourne investigates its comparability to Toronto as well as the details of its "renaissance." It is concluded that Melbourne is, in fact, highly comparable to Toronto. Interventions in Melbourne were characterized by the principles: long-term vision, emphasizing local strengths, investment in quality, making space for people on foot, and using effective arguments and evidence. To emulate Melbourne’s city-centre revitalization, Toronto first should facilitate a civic conversation about the long-term vision for its downtown; second, it should initiate a public life survey of the downtown; third, it should invest is the physical quality of downtown public spaces; and fourth, it should begin an incremental program to reclaim roadway space from cars in locations of high pedestrian use.

THE DISRUPTED RHYTHM OF PUBLIC SPACES UNDER THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN: A CASE STUDY FROM MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGION

Ensemble ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol SP-1 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-59
Author(s):  
Sanjukta Sattar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
The Public ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Local Road

The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed public life world-wide. The need for maintaining physical/social distance has led to a change in the order and nature of human activities across public spaces. As a result, the usual rhythm of activities in public spaces has come to be disrupted. Taking this into consideration, the study delves into the disrupted rhythm of the urban public spaces under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequently imposed lockdown. By adopting a case study-based approach, an in-depth analysis has been carried out to comprehend the change in the daily rhythm of a local road in the wake of the pandemic and lockdown. Lefebvre’s technique of ‘rhythmanalysis’ has been applied to carry out this study, as it is highly suited in studying the flow of everyday life in a spatiotemporal context. The article traces the change in the rhythm of activities in the study area during the pandemic and lockdown in comparison to the usual rhythm of activities that existed in the area before the pandemic. The findings of the study reveal that the pandemic has taken a toll on the study area, where the pre-existing rhythm of the public space has been overtaken by a disrupted rhythm that has given rise to chaos and confusion.

scholarly journals Making Cosmopolitan Spaces: Urban Design, Ideology and Power

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
Giovanni Semi
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
City Branding ◽  
Public Places ◽  
The Public ◽  
Space Design ◽  
Urban Core ◽  
Architecture And Design ◽  
Public Space Design

AbstractThere is a growing scholarly consensus over the transformation of the urban public place from a challenging, conflicting and negotiated one to a festive and convivial place. Decades of gentrification, renewals and city branding have fostered an urban form made of well-regulated and controlled islands of publicness in a sea of privatopias. Beyond structural forces, urban policies and the action of households and citizens, a key role has been played by global architecture and design. With this chapter, we will address this issue looking precisely at the practices of conceiving and designing the public places by urban designers. How the ideals of a cosmopolis, urban and democratic, is put in place by professionals dealing with neoliberal constraints, post-democratic states and refined middle-class users? What is the contemporary meaning of cosmopolitanism, when related to the urban core? Cosmopolitanism for whom, under which conditions? The chapter will provide a case-study detailed analysis of the perspective of urban designers towards projects and urbanism, with a specific attention to public space design.

scholarly journals Enhance the Public Space: An Ecomuseum for Monterosso Almo (RG) in Sicily

2021 ◽  
Vol 1203 (2) ◽  
pp. 022040
Author(s):  
Fernanda Cantone
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
The Public ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Intangible Resources ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The City

Abstract The city has become the place of sustainability and public space is one of the main elements of this concept: it does not consume land, it recovers the existing building assets, it works with requalification, re-design, accessibility and availability. In this sense, public space takes on an ecological and environmental connotation, supported by a growing respect for nature. Nowadays, in historical small towns, all works addressing the public space acknowledge an overlapping of traces and testimonies that identify those space as assets to be protected, but also made available to the public. In this regard, it is also necessary to protect the buildings that define this space. A tool is enhancement. Enhancement means taking actions aimed at giving value. Its objectives focus by integrating the architectural heritage into contemporary life, by strengthening social development, as well as the economy, and defining its roots and identity. Today, enhancement connects the past with the future and provides an occasion to highlight the tangible and intangible resources safeguarded by such heritage. For ordinary heritage the only possible strategy is represented by eco-museums, through a systemic approach towards all tangible and intangible elements. The case study is a very small town in the country of Ragusa, Sicily, Italy, is considered a “cultural, natural and architectonical landscape” and reflects the combined works of nature and humankind, where cultural heritage is located both in rural areas, both in center of town. The city has an interesting old town consisting in two important historical area: Matrice district and San Giovanni district. In them there are small palaces built almost all after the earthquake of 1693, beautiful churches even older, beautiful woods and views that design public space. This research is aimed at retrieving the present architecture and landscape by using the existing structures to leave an indelible mark on renovation projects. The enhancement project guides the birth of the eco-museum; it identifies, selects and recovers the existing building assets, proposing attractive and economically interesting functions for public space. An action based on eco-museums helps breathing new life into a community and its heritage, promoting life, economy and tourism.

Ageographia, Heterotopia, and Vancouver's New Public Library

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loretta Lees
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Theme Park ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Illustrative Case Study ◽  
Variations On A Theme

Different critical positions have emerged around the restructuring of space in postmodernity. I consider two sets of literature: the sceptical thesis (theses) of the ‘ageographia’ in Sorkin's edited collection Variations on a Theme Park and Foucault's affirmative thesis (theses) of the ‘heterotopia‘. These authors' works relate to a number of themes relevant to this paper: democratic public space, public space (comparing Canada and the USA) and its demise, spatial utopias, and the public library as public space and as ‘other’ space. Vancouver's newest civic landmark, the Vancouver Public Library, provides an illustrative case study with both ageographic and heterotopic qualities.

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