From accumulation to appropriation: A reflection on the public space in the contemporary city

Abstract

The spatial turn in human sciences marks a point of no-return in the conceptualization of the relationship between the human being and space. With the city as a battlefield, time, space and people are imbedded in a continuous transformation. Following this trail, this article makes a theoretical contribution to connecting territory, city and public space; deepening the knowledge of the latter. To do this we go through three different scales: starting from the global instrumentalization of the territory in pursuit of accumulation; the fragmentation of the city and the dissolution of the urban identity; and finally, the pressures on the public space. The instrumental organization of the territory in centers and peripheries transforms cities into complex social palimpsests, and to their public space, the democratic meeting place between anonymous people, in places where individuality is in danger. Is there a replica from the microscale? We present, through spatial thinkers such as Harvey, Augé and Lefebvre, a theoretical discussion on the tension between system and subject, reification and liberation, structuring and experience, in the scene of the contemporary city.