Editor-in-chief

Prof. Paul Sudnik

Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany

As the Editor-in-Chief of IJSSH, I invite you to contribute your scholarly work to our esteemed publication. The journal publishes papers which focus on the advanced researches in the field of all aspects of social science and humanity. I'll endeavour to make this journal grow better and hopefully it will become a recognized journal among researchers and scholars in related fields.

Home > Archive > 2016 > Volume 6 Number 3 (Mar. 2016)
IJSSH 2016 Vol.6(3): 201-207 ISSN: 2010-3646
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2016.V6.643

Public Space as Contested Space: The Battle over the Use, Meaning and Function of Public Space

Rowena Capulong Reyes

Abstract—Background: The optimists among the public space scholarship argue that instead of a well-organized, carefully concerted and highly controlled urban social life, what unfolds in regulated public spaces are a mélange of manifold incongruous lifestyles and a spatial condition. Thistheoretical proposition claims that public spaces are contested spaces offering a potent description of everyday reality in privatized public spaces like the shopping mall. But is a similar mechanics available outside the developed world? Objective: The study looked into the empirical validity of the urban spatial experiences of a developing country like the Philippines. Method: Case study method is employed. Verbal and observational data were analyzed using the process of pattern matching. Findings: Evidence indicates that oppositional politics exists in the public spaces of the privatized built environments. And this oppositional politics springs from three competing conceptualizations: the “by us”, “for us”, and “up to us” mentalities. Lessons Learned: Public space is not just about regulation; it is also about opposition. But unlike traditional forms of oppositional politics, these are not organized conquest of mall spaces; instead, they simply are individual acts of passive defiance.

Index Terms—Public space, oppositional politics, social control.

Rowena Capulong Reyes is with Far Eastern University, Philippines (e-mail: rcreyes@feu.edu.ph).

[PDF]

Cite: Rowena Capulong Reyes, " Public Space as Contested Space: The Battle over the Use, Meaning and Function of Public Space," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 201-207, 2016.

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