ABSTRACT
The spatio-temporal existence of place creates atmospheres of being through commonplace activities. Digesting the public sphere stimulates a contextualization of the public in everyday situations to reveal the discursive tethering of power to place. In the routine spectrum of daily life, one digests the public sphere. This chapter highlights methodological approaches to the interpretative layering of the public sphere. Places where the public gather contributes to the identity of the public and larger discursive framework of the public sphere. The public sphere is often constructed through officially-sanctioned ceremony and rituals intended to create and sustain a particular understanding of the public. Social order, as well as the public sphere, are constantly evolving in conjunction with the questions presented by the collection of papers as to how the public sphere is digested. Visualizing, understanding, and experiencing the public sphere invites closer examination into the layering of social life in places routinely inhabited.
