The Future of Public Space

Routine discussions on public space typically omit a gamut of possibilities ripe for critical discussion.This book, the latest in the SOM Thinkers series, aims to address these questions. Here, Rachel Monroe challenges American preconceptions of the wild, wide-open West by addressing issues of surve [...]
Visa längre beskrivning

Routine discussions on public space typically omit a gamut of possibilities ripe for critical discussion.This book, the latest in the SOM Thinkers series, aims to address these questions. Here, Rachel Monroe challenges American preconceptions of the wild, wide-open West by addressing issues of surveillance; the series' first fictional piece, by China Mieville, covers an under-examined area of public space under the guise of detective fiction; a study of public art by Ben Davis sheds light on the myths and stigmas that have accrued to public art, also asking what it can become; Christopher DeWolf shares a sensory navigation trip through a directionless Hong Kong; at a tea ceremony in Nevada's Red Rock Desert, Terry Tempest Williams and a group of neighbors reflect on the plight of public lands when their politics of place is shaken; while Jaron Lanier meditates on the idea of public space online, linking the prevailing, free-for-all model of the internet with a characteristically American yearning for freedom and repudiation of rules and structure.