Idealizing public space: Arendt, wolin, and the frankfurt school

Abstract

There is a widely held view that public space is necessary for democ racy, and that contemporary democracies suffer from a lack of public space. Sometimes public space is associated with a heroic view of democracy, especially its creation. Consider the following paean to public space in the New York Times recently: "Taksim is where everybody expresses freely their happiness, sorrow, their political and social views," said Esin, 41, in a head scarf, sitting with relatives on a bench watching the protest in the square. She declined to give her surname, fearing disapproval from conservative neighbors. "The government wants to sanitize this place, without consulting the people."So public space, even a modest and chaotic swath of it like Taksim, again reveals itself as fundamentally more powerful than social media, which produce virtual communities. Revolutions happen in the flesh. In Taksim, strangers have discovered one another, their common concerns and collective voice. The power of bodies coming together, at least for the moment, has produced a democratic moment, and given the leadership a dangerous political crisis."We have found ourselves," is how Omer Kanipak, a 41-year-old Turkish architect, put it to me, about the diverse gathering at Gezi Park on the north end of Taksim, where the crowds are concentrated in tent encampments and other makeshift architecture after Mr. Erdogan’s government ordered bulldozers to make way for the mall.1.