Bookstore

It is not possible to be alive today in the United States without feeling the influence of the political climate on the spaces where people live, work, and form communities. Public Space/Contested Space illustrates the ways in which creative interventions in public space have constituted a significant dimension of contemporary political action, and how this space can both reflect and spur economic and cultural change.


Drawing insight from a range of disciplines and fields, the essays in this volume assess the effectiveness of protest movements that deploy bodies in urban space, and social projects that build communities while also exposing inequalities and presenting new political narratives. With sections exploring the built environment, artists, and activists and public space, the book brings together the diverse voices to reveal the complexities and politicization of public space within the United States.


Public Space/Contested Space provides a significant contribution to an understudied dimension of contemporary political action and will be a resource to students of urban studies and planning, architecture, sociology, art history, and human geography. This volume provides an up-to-date critical reflection of a range of initiatives and interventions, across diverse experiences and perspectives, with a strong inter-disciplinary approach to the spatial implications of the profound socio-economic changes impacting contemporary urbanism.


Frank Gaffikin, Emeritus Professor and former Director of Research from Queens University, Belfast.

Public Space/Contested Space: Imagination and Occupation

1. Introduction: Public Space/Contested Space Kevin D. Murphy and Sally O'Driscoll Section 1: The Built Environment 2. Process, Product, Program: The Architect as Facilitator of Social Change Garrett Nelli, AIA 3. "The Search for New Forms": Black Power and the Making of the Postmodern City Brian D. Goldstein 4. Centro Cultural Movil: Critical Service Learning and Design with Latinx Farmworkers Silvina Lopez Barrera and Erin Sassin 5. Inside Out: Private Space on Public Display in Modern and Contemporary Demolition Art Kevin D. Murphy Section 2: Artists and Public Space 6. Intervention: Indigo Laura Anderson Barbata 7. "No Matter Where We Move, We Look at the Same Moon": A Half-Century Between the Pacific and Stars Jerome Reyes and tammy ko Robinson 8. Silenced Subversions: Critical Messages Exhibition at Artemisia Gallery, Chicago (1985) Joanna Gardner-Huggett 9. International Revolution by Design: The Art of Tanya Aguiniga Sheila Pepe Section 3: Activists and Urban Space 10. Occupying Domesticity: Reproductive Labor in Zuccotti Park Susan Fraiman 11. Occupy Wall Street: Mapping a Movement Marlisa Wise 12. Tent City, USA: The Growth of America's Homeless Encampments and How Communities are Responding Maria Foscarinis and Eric Tars 13. Bodies in Space: A Conversation with L.A. Kauffman L.A. Kauffman with Sally O'Driscoll