The Public Realm

Exploring the City's Quintessential Social Territory

Lyn H. Lofland (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

326 Seiten

1998
AldineTransaction (Verlag)
978-0-202-30607-0 (ISBN)

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This book is about the "public realm," defined as a particular kind of social territory that is found almost exclusively in large settlements. This particular form of social-psychological space comes into being whenever a piece of actual physical space is dominated by relationships between and among persons who are strangers to one another, as often occurs in urban bars, buses, plazas, parks, coffee houses, streets, and so forth. More specifically, the book is about the social life that occurs in such social-psychological spaces (the normative patterns and principles that shape it, the relationships that characterize it, the aesthetic and interactional pleasures that enliven it) and the forces (anti-urbanism, privatism, post-war planning and architecture) that threaten it. The data upon which the book's analysis is based are diverse: direct observation; interviews; contemporary photographs, historic etchings, prints and photographs, and historical maps; histories of specific urban public spaces or spatial types; and the relevant scholarly literature from sociology, environmental psychology, geography, history, anthropology, and architecture and urban planning and design. Its central argument is that while the existing body of accomplished work in the social sciences can be reinterpreted to make it relevant to an understanding of the public realm, this quintessential feature of city life deserves much more u it deserves to be the object of direct scholarly interest in its own right. Choice noted that: "The author's writing style is unusually accessible, and the often fascinating narrative is generously supported by well-chosen photos."

Ronald L. Akers, Gary F. Jensen

Preface, Prologue, 1 Toward a Geography and History of the Public Realm, PART I CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PUBLIC REALM: ASPECTS OF A SOCIAL TERRITORY, PART II OPPONENTS OF THE PUBLIC REALM: ASSAULTS ON A SOCIAL TERRITORY, Epilogue: The Future of the Public Realm, References, Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	31.12.1998
Reihe/Serie	The Public Realm \| 1.20
Verlagsort	Somerset
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	760 g
Einbandart	gebunden
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	0-202-30607-0 / 0202306070
ISBN-13	978-0-202-30607-0 / 9780202306070
Zustand	Neuware