Urban futures (tutorial short answers) - Essay Example

Urban futures What is public space? How is public space described in your articles? Edensor says that a public space is a generally open and accessible social place to the people. Examples include roads, parks, public squares, and beaches, while Lubin asserts that a public space is a social place that the public are able to access and carryout public activities.2. Why public space is considered important and what role does it/should it play in a city - do you agree?According to Lubin (2012), public space is considered important and plays significant role in a city.

Some of the roles played by public space in the city include acting as a market place, a meeting place, and traffic or access space. People talk, move about and exchange merchandise in public space. All such functions are important and take place side by side simultaneously in the same public space in a fine balance. According to Edensor (2011), public space is considered important due to the provision of social centers and necessary activities that occur in such space. A lot of joyful human activities are found in public space, and also offer more room and opportunities for people (Edensor, 2011). 3. How public space is formed - what are the main forces involved in shaping public space?

Lubin (2012) asserts that public space is formed through opening government buildings and property to the public such as public gardens and public libraries. The reformation and contestation of the public space is something of a hallmark for critical theory regarding geography, cultural studies, philosophy, visual art, urban design, and social studies. Public space has for sometime been miscomprehended to mean places like gathering halls which is technically the essence of the broader social space concept (Lubin, 2012).

Edensor (2011) says that through the spatial organization and landscape of public space, the social construction of the public space is viewed to be ruled privately through the explicit and implicit expectations and rules of the public space that are enforced. According to the articles, everyone has a right to use and/ or access public space, in contrary to private space that has particular restrictions. There has been however some presence of academic interest in the formation and management of public space in the cities.

According to Lubin (2012), management measures have been taken to control usage of the public space. The benches have been designed to restrict people from resting and sleeping on them. In some situations, police forces are involved in restraining those who misuse the public space. This is a similar practice in most cities in taking care of the public space (Lubin, 2012).4. How is the function of public space contested and re-formed?Both Edensor (2011) and Lubin (2012) say that the functions of public space is contested and reformed through the privately owned property and buildings that are visible to the sidewalks and thoroughfares of the public impact on the public visual landscape through outdoor promotion and marketing.5. Does the formation and contestation of public space as outlined in your articles resonate with your experience of a public space in Adelaide?

The formation and contestation of public space in the articles resonate with my experience of a public space in Adelaide. This is so because the articles conceive a public space as a place that is shared commonly and created for public use throughout the community. This is also my experience of a public space in Adelaide: everyone is allowed access to public space. Public space in this area resonate with what is stated in the articles: they are built for a wide range of numerous entertainment and recreation (Edensor, 2011).

Their physical setting is also construed socially and develops an influence on behavior. Limitations are normally imposed in public space in order to avoid some actions from taking place; the behavior by individuals that are seen as out of order or character or even obnoxious, and such limitations are normally supported by ordinance or law. This resonates with what happens with the public space in Adelaide.BibliographyEdensor, D. Tim, 2011. Geographies of Rhythm: Nature, place, mobilities and bodies, London: AshgateLubin. J. 2012.

The ‘Occupy’ Movement: Emerging Protest Forms and Contested Urban Spaces, Berkeley Planning Journal, 25(1).