ABSTRACT
The areas of cities that are deemed to be open space and those deemed to be public may seem to be self-evident. Open space often, however, means parks, and public simply means that people are allowed to enter without having to obtain permission. One option, which we take here, to understand how open spaces function as part of urban life is to show that there is a hierarchy of open space types based on the degree of power and control that various groups of people have over them. Urban open spaces vary on a continuum from being public to being private in their nature. In between these ownership types come quasi-public, semi-public and semi-private spaces (Newman 1972).
