ABSTRACT
It is safe to suggest that in the last 20 years, public space has received a significant amount of attention around the world: from citizens and local communities, to refugees and international migrants, to municipal offices and national governments, to the non-profit and non-governmental sectors, to corporate and business interests, as well as from global organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. The real challenge in developing global and comparative perspectives on public space has been to establish an inclusive comparative framework for a globalized study of public space. Any attempt to produce such a framework must begin with an attempt to define the unit of analysis and the object of study. Changing notions and modalities of citizenship and evolving democratic practices increasingly turn needs and claims to political demands for participation, co-creation, shared decision making; public space and public realm play decisive roles in these processes.
