Title & Author:

Rites of way : the politics and poetics of public space / Mark Kingwell and Patrick Turmel, editors.

Publication:

Waterloo, Ont. : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, ©2009.

Description:

xvii, 190 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Series:

Canadian commentaries

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction : Rites of way, paths of desire / Mark Kingwell and Patrick Turmel -- Masters of chancery : the gift of public space / Mark Kingwell -- We wuz robbed / Joe Alterio -- Public space : lost and found / Ken Greenberg -- Architecture and public space / Alberto Pérez-Gómez -- The enduring presence of the phenomenon of "the public" : thoughts from the arena of architecture and urban design / George Baird -- Private jokes, public places : an excerpt / Oren Safdie -- Holistic democracy and physical public space / John Parkinson -- Public spaces and subversion / Frank Cunningham -- Take to the streets! Why we need street festivals to know our civic selves / Shawn Micallef -- How insensitive : an excerpt / Russell Smith -- Beauty goes public / Nick Mount -- Protect the net : the looming destruction of the global communications environment / Ron Deibert -- The city as public space / Patrick Turmel -- ... walks from the office for soft architecture / Lisa Robertson.

Summary:

"There are many ways to approach the subject of public space: the threats posed to it by surveillance and visual pollution; the joys it offers of stimulation and excitement, of anonymity and transformation; its importance to urban variety or democratic politics. But public space remains an evanescent and multi-dimensional concept that too often escapes scrutiny." "The essays in Rites of Way: The Politics and Poetics of Public Space open up multiple dimensions of the concept from architectural, political, philosophical, and technological points of view. Some historical analysis is offered here, but the contributors are more focused on the future of public space under conditions of growing urbanization and democratic confusion. The interest added to the volume by non-academic work - visual art, fiction, poetry, and drama - is in part an admission that this is a topic too important to be left only to theorists. Its inclusion makes an implicit argument for the crucial role that art, not just public art, plays in a thriving public realm." "Throughout this work contributors are guided by the conviction, not pious but steely, that healthy public space is one of the best, living parts of a just society. The paths of desire we follow in public trace and speak our convictions and needs, our interests and foibles. They are the vectors and walkways of the social, the public dimension of life lying at the heart of all politics."--Jacket.

Resources:
Table of contents
Table of contents

ISBN:

9781554581535 (pbk.)
1554581532
9781554581672
1554581672

Subject:

Public spaces.
Public spaces Political aspects.
Public spaces Social aspects.
Espaces publics.
Espaces publics Aspect politique.
Espaces publics Aspect social.
Kunst
Öffentlicher Raum

Form/genre:

Aufsatzsammlung.
Essays

Added entries:

Kingwell, Mark, 1963-
Turmel, Patrick, 1976-
Canadian commentaries.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 263970
Call No.: BIB 195288
Status: Available