ABSTRACT
The first order of business here is to provide a working definition of public space. There are a variety of definitions, as the introductory essay by Zachary Neal reveals, but they all essentially come down to the same thing: they are those common sites at which people gather in public, such as meeting halls, parks, plazas, streets, sidewalks, public markets and the like and, in the present era, they may even include cyberspaces on the Internet. Such areas, like all public space, are open and accessible, in principle, to all members of the public in a society. The significance of those sites can be seen at a moment’s notice. If those spaces are open and accessible, then they provide venues and opportunities where the sundry and diverse constituents of a society (or a community, for that matter) can mingle, exchange ideas and socialize with one another. And presumably, the more such sites are actually public, in the sense of being open and accessible to everyone, the more they are working like public spaces should, at least in theory.
