Public Realm

Spatial Public Realm: Built and Virtual Environment

When investigating the spatial dimensions of the public realm, the term public space is commonly used. Public space refers to those spaces that are, in principle, open and accessible to all members of the public in a society. The most obvious examples include such places as parks, streets and sidewalks, and government buildings. However, not all public spaces are physical; the concept is often expanded to include virtual gathering places such as online chatrooms, blogs, and social networking websites. In many cases, places that are technically private but practically public—shopping malls, restaurants and bars, or entertainment venues—are also included under the umbrella of public space.

Despite their definitional openness and accessibility, public spaces are not unregulated spaces. They are all governed by informal social norms of interaction and frequently by specific rules of use, as when glass bottles or loud music are prohibited in a park. Of particular significance in the regulation of public space in the United States is the public forum doctrine, established by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators' Association (1983), which defined three tiers of freedom from regulation: traditional public forum, limited public forum, and nonpublic forum. Similar legal classifications of public space have developed in other countries.

Public spaces are used for a wide and overlapping range of activities. As social spaces, parks and plazas offer groups and individuals an opportunity to gather and socialize. As cultural spaces, they are often sites of artistic performances, ranging from formal performances like concerts in the park to informal activities like sidewalk chalk drawings. They can also function as political spaces where grievances against the government can be raised and struggles against power and authority take place. These uses, again, can range from the formal and organized, like a proceeding in a government courthouse, to the unplanned, like a skirmish between local authorities and the undesirable occupants of a park. Finally, public spaces can often take on a commercial character. Genuinely public spaces often serve as locations for public markets (e.g., farmer's markets, craft fairs), and private spaces such as shopping malls and restaurants are frequently used as public spaces as well.

...