ABSTRACT
Public urban spaces are increasingly at the forefront of the scholarly imagination. For it is in these spaces that myriad social, cultural, and economic forces are most likely to converge in complex and often inexplicable ways. The public square has, for instance, become a flashpoint for social and political activism; a gathering place for cultural reproduction, and a blank canvas for the countless individuals and groups who choose to recreate and socialize in public space. But public squares, like public space more generally, are not typically sites that inadvertently become publicly accessible. The state, at various scales and through countless agencies, maintains the power to designate urban space as public and, as a consequence, to provide access to this space. Alongside public squares, parks are perhaps the most visible category of public space in the urban landscape. And like public squares, parks are generally situated in such a way as to maximize public access (access being defined geographically-nearness). Parks are also deliberately conceived (planned, sited, and developed) with particular expectations for their utilization. In both cases (the public square and the urban park) the space which has been designated as public is intended to provide access to something that is more than just open space. This is the crux of the chapter that follows. Public spaces are conceived to provide access to particular activities and/or amenities-but the lived spaces that they become are more likely to reflect the unexpected co-mingling of race, class, and culture in urban areas than the precise expectations of the urban planner.
