Multiple
Publics, Urban Design, and the Right to the City: Assessing Participation
in the Plaza del Colibrà |
| Contributions from cultural and feminist studies raise fundamental issues about contemporary culture as expressed between different social groups and epistemological problems associated with universal claims about the public sphere. At the heart of these critiques is the interrogation of relationships between subject and object, and distinctions between diverse forms of knowledge. However, lacking is a related account of the design profession and the normative relationships that exists between experts and non-experts, professionals and clients. This paper introduces some of these recent debates as a critique of conventional approaches to participation in the design of the public realm. Using the case study of a renovated transit hub, I introduce the term multiple publics to highlight the value of inclusiveness in urban open space projects. In doing so, I argue for strategies that begin with difference as a starting point in the design of public space. |