Imaginación geográfica y agencia política: Produciendo espacio público a través del Derecho en Madrid (1992-2012)

Abstract

The analysis of public space has been one of the most controversial social and political research areas, primarily because of its ambiguity and polysemy. Oftentimes, the confusion of the notions of public space and public sphere has supposed the assimilation of both elements and the assumption of their existence in essentialist terms. This perspective does not consider the actual policy practices they produce. From the perspective of critical Political Geography of Law, the aim of this paper is to explore how institutional agency has been regulating and signifying public spaces in Madrid in the last two decades. The results show three central consequences of that institutionally produced geographical imagination: public space restricted to institutions, citizenship as giving structure to the urban, and the territorial fragmentation of multiple activities. These, in turn, invite a questioning and redefinition of Madrid's public spaces. © EURE.