PSC 264 - Politics & Public Space

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR (students beginning prior to Fall 2024): Meets general academic requirement SL.
This course considers how ideas about the use and meaning of public space, such as neighborhoods, city streets, marketplaces, parks, and public monuments, frame political conflicts on issues such as social justice, environmental protection, and historical preservation. We examine how laws, socio-economic forces, and cultural values give shape to public spaces and how such spaces are transformed by the political struggles over their access, control, and meaning. We consider questions such as: What is public space? How is it constructed, interpreted, and contested? Who defines the boundaries between public space and private property? Who has the right to access public space? We also consider how social-economic forces such as suburbanization, globalization, and privatization are reshaping public space.