WHAT IS PUBLIC

I started to think about my "public space" on the roof of the Euston Station. I started to create a function for it, to look for an argument which connects the "commercial need" of an investor to create a large public space for demonstrations. But before starting to "design" anything on my roof, I had to clear questions which arrised with that intention: what is public, what is public space, how are "public actions" expressed, what is the importance of physical public space for demonstrations/public actions, what is truly public and what is meanwhile private in the public sphere???????
Now after reading and thinking about some things, I am not sure how to create a political public space, using ONLY tools on the "architectural" scale. It seems to me to be irresponsible to talk only about the 3dimensional space when i want to describe an intention of demonstrations or "becoming public"....
Here are some thoughts I found and some I got in my head, maybe someone has the patience to read and maybe also just to say "DENIS STOP! Take autocad/rhino/maya/bluefoam... and make a bit of architecture!" :) GUYS THIS IS AN URGENT UNIT 7 HELP REQUEST! :)



Most urbanists tend to think of PUBLIC space as three-dimensional PHYSICAL space. Piazza Navona, the Red Square, Central Park.... For urban planners, public space is both the visible symbol of local democracy, and the quintessential PLACE for it to become action.

CANTON URI - SWITZERLAND: men would gather and make decisions about common issues. This might be something in the back of our minds as the symbol of PURE democracy. Today, however, the "public" space and getting something "public" is much more than just a congregation on a square, isn´t it???

An action can take place at the TIananmen Square, but it becomes truly public only after it has ben broadcast on CNN and can be later traced through Google. The virtual and publicly accesible...

Does PUBLIC SPACE in fact signify the public sphere, the public domain as well as the physical urban public space? Have they become ONE, a multidimensional world beyond our skin and within our heads, shaping our daily consciousness without us necessarily noticing if we´ve shifted from one dimension to another. Did you read the news in the paper at home, or hear it on the radio while driving your car, did you see the ad in the tv in your bedroom or on the street, glued on the city bus?

PUBLIC: the first recorded use of the word PUBLIC in english identifies the "public" with the COMMON GOOD in society...

PUBLIC GOODS: to some extent in a similar way as HUMAN RIGHTS - are basically political concepts. Is water a human right?
A public good is "non-rivalrous", "non-excludable"...

here some global public goods listed by the UNITED NATIONS REPORT:
1. basic human dignity for all people, including universal access to basic education and health care
2. respect for national so sovereignty
3. global public health, particularly communicable disease control
4. global security - global public domain free from crime and violence
5. global peace
6. communication and transportation systems harmonized across borders concerted management of the global natural commons to promote their sustainable use
7. abailability of international arenas for multilateral negotiations between states as well as between state and non-state actors.

SPACE:
French: espace
German: Raum

Space implied additional meaning of "region beyond Earth´s atmosphere". It has always the connotation of "something in between".

URBAN (public) SPACE AND PUBLIC LIFE
Sennett writes about the growth of the 18th century cosmpolis and notes that "The focus of public life was the capityl city". Public life is acording to that urban and the private life has more to do with nature. Urban public space is the indispensable stage for public life. It goes without saying that urban space is public space, there is no such thing as "urban private space" (???) or is there going to once the multinational real estate investment companies, which have purchased all major city centres? According to Sennett "the nature of a public square is to intermix persons and diverse activities". Coincidental meeting of people from all walks of life in the social essence of urban space, which makes it public. WITHOUT PEOPLE THERE IS NO URBAN (PUBLIC) SPACE.

2 legally criteria to judge whether a space is public or not: OWNERSHIP and ACCESSIBILITY.


PRIVATE ADVERTISEMENT IN PUBLIC SPACE
Who can buy access to public space? Who can sell public space? Who has been given the mandate to do so? And who earns the money coming from that?
Real estate owner allows to use his building as background for advertisement, commercial tv channel sells time slots, bus company rents the exterior and interior for publicity purposes. Advertisement (or the action to get something "public") is public space or time that has been sold to private stakeholders.

MEMORY
Buildings are history and you can read the city through them. You can look at facades. Closer look at the construction and technology, which has ben used. Through your knowledge of general history, you can add invisible layers to the visual picture you are getting from the city.
COLECTIVE MEMORY takes place in public space.

MEDIA as additional dimension of PUBLIC SPACE:
By choosing a clever zoom lens and the right angle a TV camera can make 5000 demonstants out of 50. The street talks via TV.

POLITICS as additional dimension of PUBLIC SPACE:
France 2006: referring to riots in Paris, a few months later Chirac had no way out - he had to withdraw the proposed labor law.
Thailand 2006: middle class demonstrating in Bangkok and forcing the corrupt Prime Minister to step down.
BUT(!): growing number of public demonstrations linked to the weakening of democracy? This is in a contradiction to the common, but naive idea of democracy allowing for demonstrations. The number of people voting is declining generally. Public street dissent is rising and becoming and being suppressed more violently. That is a reflection of people´s feeling of powerlessness that leads to apparent apaty, widespread and growing addictions and vandalism.

BA
Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida: "We believe that the single most important factor of shaping the quality of knowledge creation is the quality of place. To differentiate the various aspects of place we use the concept of BA"
"Ba": japanese word that translates rougly as "place". A holistic concept which encompasss several dimensions simultaneously: the physical, the mental, the social and the virtual.

Flash Mob

Hey guys! how are you all doing in your break?
Little description of the Denis-situation: the more I think about my giant plattform, about kind of congregation/demonstration space, relationships between public space / private space / commercial space (about "public" and about "space" in general), the more I get confused... But as Matthew would probably say: "the point when you reach the most confused stage, is the point you will come with something really powerful". Well, I want to share couple of thoughts with you... Maybe some of you feel like commenting.
Here some "inverted" public congregation:

Not Remotely Urban

We Have Decided Not To Die