ABSTRACT
This chapter explores concepts of public space through analyzing forms envisioned for public expanses in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in Beijing and Shanghai, China. The catalyst for the diffusion of 'public space' concepts from China to Russia – and for negotiations over differing concepts – is the Baltic Pearl, a 205-hectare development area southwest of St. Petersburg, financed by a consortium of real estate investment firms from Shanghai. While urban planning and architectural designs fit more neatly into Lefebvre's description of 'representations of space' the forms taken by designs for public space do suggest current spatial practices and future possible activities. In the case of the yet partly-built Baltic Pearl, analysis of actual activity is still impossible; the negotiations surrounding its form as designed, however, are rich with material for spatial analysis. The designers caught at least the formalized discourse of communication in public space and deployed it 'as a strategy of distinction'.
