How public is public space: a cross-disciplinary study of the democratic city
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Examensarbete för masterexamen
Modellbyggare
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Sammanfattning
For decades we have been able to follow urban cities using concepts that promote
commercial interests rather than public, in their fight for attention on the global
market. Using terms like “branding” or “profiling”, the focus that should be
on the commercialisation of public space is instead disguised as development
proclaimed to make the city more “attractive”. This development however risks
turning public space into private and diversity into uniformity when cities as a
whole and, more specifically, public spaces are planned. Today we see the impacts
and consequences of it in public space, and in the end on its democratic functions.
This thesis is set around questions that discuss the gap between research done on
the city by social sciences, politics, and actual planning leading to architecture
that shapes public space.
By using a cross-disciplinary approach architects can broaden their understanding
of this relationship between public space and democracy. This thesis therefore
includes studies from Sociology, Cultural Studies, Geography, and Critical theory.
It is also a series of design elaborations where the theories are being tested through
collages. These allow a quick look at an alternative reality of a place and ask
questions though visual representation, as well as spatial analysis. In building on
and collaborating with scholars from other fields, architects have a great chance
to learn from and include meaningful knowledge into the practical work of
architecture. This thesis argues that a cross-disciplinary approach should not only
be seen as a means to interesting design but that it is also imperative to secure our
public spaces as democratic agents. With awareness of the mechanisms at work
in city planning on the one hand and insight in the research of other disciplines
on the other, architects have a great chance to strengthen both their own role in
planning, and the democratic function of public space.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Critical theory, justice, equality, gentrification, business improvement district, class, whiteness