ABSTRACT

The chapters of this book examine the many ways in which the local production of inclusive civic spaces contributes to the social and political life of cities through public participation in place-making and governance. Drawing from a general concept of civic spaces as real-world venues for social encounters and associational life, the chapters reveal how they are also spaces where social capital is formed, strengthened, and utilized. Such “free” spaces with a high degree of autonomy from state and private economic interests are vital for social and cultural life to flourish (Evans and Boyte, 1992; King and Hustedde, 1993; Lefebvre, 1991). Society-space relations permeate history, social processes, experiences and understandings because social relations are both space-forming and space-contingent (Friedmann, 1989; Massey, 1994; Lefebvre, 1991). In the context of this book, civic spaces provide not only the physical sites for civil society to function autonomously; they provide civil society with a sense of place in the form of identity, meaning, memory, history, and linkages with the wider world. In both instances, they are vital to the well-being of society.