Public Space is Essential for Democracy

Architecture critic Sarah Williams Goldhagen says that streets can't create public interaction in the way that unstructured spaces like urban parks can.

1 minute read

October 25, 2010, 12:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur

Goldhagen argues that people won't interact unless they're given public spaces that are unstructured and non-goal-oriented enough to give our brains the space to focus on other people:

"Goldhagen argues that only in places that have been designed to foster these social interactions can people once again enjoy the company of strangers not interested in your specific "community of interest." The obvious physical space for the public realm then is public parks, in all their forms, but particularly, the 'great urban parks.'"

She says that the ideal urban park is "not be so large that inside it one loses a sense of the city."

FULL STORY: Goldhagen: “Democracies Need Physical Spaces”

Monday, October 25, 2010 in ASLA's The Dirt blog

Land Use United States Public Spaces Urban Parks

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