ABSTRACT
We have examined the public space within the context of interpersonal relations, as an arena of sociability or community building, as well as integrating material and institutional dimensions as a part of a metaspatial tool for self rule. We now move on to the impersonal public spaces of the city. This chapter traces the transformation of urban pubiic spaces from the integrated core of the small town for interpersonal communication to their current dispersed and impersonal presence in the metropolis. It follows an historical account of this change in the Western city, with a brief visit to some of the cities of Asia and the Middle East. The modern city and its expansion, associated with the problems of spatial segregation, social polarization and privatization of space, are then discussed. The uses of public space in social cohesion and reintegration, as well as in economic regeneration of cities are examined to find out about the contested social, economic and political role of the public realm in the contemporary city.
