ABSTRACT
The use of the term “civic spaces” defines those spaces in which “people of different origins and walks of life can co-mingle without overt control by government, commercial or other private interests, or de-facto dominance by one group over another” (Douglass et al. 2001). The prior assumption to this definition is that a thriving society needs inclusive spaces in which to flourish, and that such spaces are sine qua non for the emergence of better governance, livability and a healthy economy (ibid). Such spaces are, by this definition, not the same as, but has as its subset public space, as the latter (by definition of public) precludes forms of civic space which may exist in privately owned or privately managed spaces such as those of commercial developments, universities, religious institutions, private housing and such.
