University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy

DRAFT PPDE 631 Public Space: Theory, Policy, and Design

Spring 2013
Time: Tuesday 6:00-9:20pm Location: TBD Instructor: Meredith Drake Reitan Email: mereditd@usc.edu Office hours: by appointment

Introduction and Objectives

Public spaces are an integral part of the culture of cities, often shaping a citys image and identity. The production, distribution and use of public space is often described by planners and policy makers in terms of health, safety and welfare. Yet the concept is also inextricably linked to loftier ideas of community, memory, citizenship, identity and freedom of expression. There are a number of positive trends in this area, for example there are accounts of formerly underutilized public spaces being claimed and contested at the grassroots level by neighborhoods and newly emergent immigrant communities. However more pessimistically, there is also a growing discontent with what is seen as a decline in the quality of the urban experience: an atrophying public realm, declining quality and quantum of public life and space, and more generally a weakening sense of place and community. There is widespread unease about the increasing privatization of public life and how it might encumber our freedom and rights. Some also worry about the rise of cyber-communities and cyberplaces, and the impact of information and communication technology on the future of public spaces and public life. The aim of this graduate seminar is to examine contemporary issues and practices in the production and use of public space and to consider the implications for future design and public policy. While examples will be drawn from an international and comparative perspective, there will be a specific focus on public space in the greater Los Angeles area. The class will be roughly divided into three thematic areas. The first part will address the theoretical underpinnings of public space the what and the why. The second part will focus on issues of equity and distribution. We will specifically address questions of access and availability, especially as it relates to issues of gender, age, race, ethnicity and poverty. In the class third section we will review the opportunities for community action, policy interventions and management of such spaces. The class will proceed through an interactive discussion of articles, book chapters, policy reports and films. It will also include a number of site visits to significant local public spaces and conversations with key activists and policy makers working in this area. At the end of the semester, students will be able to: Think critically about contemporary public space from a theoretical, a social, an experiential and a practical point of view Apply a number of planning and policy-related tools to the analysis of public space

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Conceptualize alternatives and develop recommendations for a particular public space in Los Angeles Communicate their ideas about public space effectively using a variety of means such as writing, speaking and multimedia presentations.

Readings
All required readings will be available electronically through Blackboard, on-line and/or on reserve at Leavey Library. See the class schedule below for a list of required readings (an additional list of recommended - meaning interesting and worthwhile, but not required reading is also attached).

Assignments
Final Paper: Students will write an individual research paper about a contemporary public space in the Los Angeles area. The total length of the paper is expected to be approximately 20 pages of doublespaced text with one-inch page margins (not counting bibliography, illustrations, and tables). This paper must draw from, and apply, the concepts and themes discussed in class and included in the required reading materials. A recommended paper outline will be distributed in class. Reflections: Individually or in teams, students will be asked to briefly reflect and apply what they have learned through course readings and discussions. The first of these reflections will ask students to document a public space over time, the second, to document a space geographically. The third assignment asks students to evaluate a public space from the stand point of its users. At least one of these assignments will require students to develop a non-textual (i.e. visual or aural) representation. One of these reflections may be used as a preliminary analysis of the final paper site. Specific details, including a summary of criteria used to evaluate each reflection will be discussed in class. Reading Response: Students are expected to complete all required reading prior to class meetings and to discuss the texts during each session. Occasionally and on a rotating basis, a small group of students will be asked to post a response to the weeks reading on the class blackboard. A response can be a critical summary of the readings (no more than 1 page) or a series of questions for discussion. The reading response should be posted on blackboard by midnight on the night before class. The weeks designated students will be expected to join the instructor in initiating and leading a portion of class discussion based on their posts. Informal class assignments: At various times, students will be asked to complete informal assignments that are designed to reinforce readings and to initiate class discussion. A late assignment penalty in the form of a 10% grade reduction will be assessed for every 12-hour period beyond a given deadline, with exceptions granted only for documented medical & family emergencies.

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Grading Criteria
Grades will be weighted according to the following distribution: Final Paper: 40% Reflections: 30% Reading Response: 10% Informal assignments: 10% Participation, including attendance, involvement in class discussions and group work: 10%

Course Outline
I. Theories and Experiences of Public Space a. Defining public space and determining its value b. Typology: parks, streets, plazas, third spaces and quasi-public places c. Evaluation and analyzing public space Equity, Distribution and Use a. Women and public space b. Children and playgrounds c. Changing neighborhoods and changing expectations d. Threats to public space, including privatization and surveillance Design and Policy Approaches a. Designing Public Spaces b. Advocacy and Community Action c. Future of Public Space

II.

III.

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Schedule of Readings & Class Activities

January 15: Understanding public space and its value; developing an experiential sense of space, the built environment and the cultural landscape; identifying goals for the class and our expectations. January 22: More than a Neatly Trimmed Lawn What is public space and what is the difference between it and either the public sphere or the public realm? Reading Required 1. Neal, Zachary (2010) Locating Public Space in Antony Orum and Zachary Neal, Eds. Common Ground? Readings and Reflections on Public Space, Routledge, New York 2. Mitchell, Don (1995) The End of Public Space? People's Park, Definitions of the Public and Democracy Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 85, No. 1 pp.108-133 3. SKIM: Varna, George and Tiesdell, Steve (2010) Assessing the Publicness of Public Space: The Star Model, Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 15: 4, pp 575 598 Assignment: Post to blackboard a graphic (i.e. a photograph, a video or some other non-textual representation from your own collection, from a book/magazine or from the web) of a public space. Be prepared to informally discuss what appeals to (or repels) you about the place and/or the graphic. January 29: Historical Precedents and Global Examples Reading Required 1. Carr, Stephen. (1992) Chapter 3: Public Space Evolving, in Public Space, Cambridge University Press 2. Brill, M. (1989) Transformation, Nostalgia, and Illusion in Public Life and Public Place in I. Altman & E. Zube (Eds.), Public Places and Spaces (pp 7-29). New York: Plenum Press. 3. Low, Setha (1996) Spatializing Culture: The Social Production and Social Construction of Public Space in Costa Rica American Ethnologist, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Nov), pp. 861-879 4. SKIM: Berney, Rachel (2010) Learning from Bogot: How Municipal Experts Transformed Public Space, Journal of Urban Design, 15: 4, 539 558 Assignment: Review the weekly themes and select one that you would like to adopt. At least one week before your adopted theme you will be asked to recommend an additional reading to complement the works already assigned.

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February 5: Methods of Analysis Reading Required 1. Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia (1995) Urban Form and Social Context: Cultural Differentiation in the Uses of Urban Parks Journal of Planning Education and Research 14:89-102 2. Whyte, William (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, The Conservation Foundation. pp 16 23, 54 57 and 60 65 3. Lynch, Kevin and Malcolm Rivkin (1959) A Walk Around the Block Landscape 8:3 pp 24 4. SKIM: Active Living Research Tools and Measures for Active Living Environments and Physical Activity 5. SKIM: Field Methods of Collecting Data, in Ed. Hemalata C. Dandekar Planner's Use of Information (2nd Edition), APA Press, Chicago IL 6. SKIM: Longhurst, Robyn (2010) Semi-Structured Interviews and Focus Groups in Key Methods in Geography editors Clifford, French and Valentine, Sage Assignment: Evaluate a public space using one of the methods above. Be prepared to informally discuss in class the pros and cons and likely utility of the method. February 12: Memory and the Didactic Public Landscape Reading Required 1. Hubbard, William (1984) A Meaning for Monuments The Public Interest, Winter pp.1730 2. Hayden, Dolores (1995) Urban Landscapes as Public History from The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 3. Low, Setha, Dana Taplin & Suzanne Scheld (2005) Chapter 7. Independence National Historical Park: Recapturing Erased Histories from Rethinking Urban Parks: Public Space & Cultural Diversity, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX Assignment: Reflection 1 due on blackboard by midnight on Monday February 11. Be prepared to informally discuss the assignment in class. February 19: Plazas and Civic Space - Field Trip to La Placita and the Los Angeles Civic Center Reading Required 1. Jackson, John Brinkerhoff (1986) Forum Follows Function in Discovering the Vernacular Landscape, Yale University Press 2. Solnit, Rebecca, (2000) Citizens of the Streets: Parties, Processions and Revolutions in Wanderlust: A History of Walking, New York, Penguin

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February 26: Women and Public Space Reading Required 1. Hayden, Dolores (2002) Domesticating Urban Space, in Redesigning the American Dream, New York: W.W. Norton, pp. 225-238 2. Murphy, Amy (2006) Traces of the Flaneuse: From Roman Holiday to Lost in Translation, Journal of Architectural Education, 60; 1, 3. SKIM: Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia (2005) Is It Safe to Walk Here? Design and Policy Responses to Womens Fear of Victimization in Public Places, in Research on Womens Issues in Transportation, Transportation Research Board, pp. 102-112. Assignment: Take a walk. Be prepared to informally discuss it in class. March 5: Hitting the Streets Reading Required 1. Jacobs, Jane (1961) The Uses of Sidewalks: Contact in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, New York, Random House pp: 55 73 2. Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia & Renia Ehrenfeucht (2009) excerpt from Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Space MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 3. SKIM: Eubank-Ahrens, Brenda (1987) A Closer Look at the Users of Woonerven in Anne Vernez Moudon Ed., Public Streets for Public Use, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, New York, pp 63 79 4. SKIM: Mehta, Vikas (2009) 'Look Closely and You Will See, Listen Carefully and You Will Hear: Urban Design and Social Interaction on Streets', Journal of Urban Design, 14: 1, pp 29 64 March 12: Youth Spaces; Children and Playgrounds; Healthy Public Spaces Reading Required 1. The Trust for Public Land (2004) No Place to Play 2. Culver, Lawrence (2010) Americas Playground: Recreation and Race, A Companion to Los Angeles, editors Greg Hise and Bill Deverell, Blackwell 3. SKIM: Nemeth, J. (2006) Conflict, Exclusion, Relocation: Skateboarding and Public Space, Journal of Urban Design, 11(3), pp. 297318. Assignment: Reflection 2 due to blackboard by midnight Monday, March 11. Be prepared to informally discuss the assignment in class. March 19 NO CLASS, SPRING RECESS

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March 26: Changing Neighborhoods and Changing Expectations - Field Trip to MacArthur Park Reading Required 1. Crawford, M. (1995) Contesting the Public Realm: Struggles Over Public Space in Los Angeles, Journal of Architectural Education 49, 1 pp: 4-9 2. Rojas, J (2003) The Enacted Environment of East Los Angeles. Places 8, 3 pp: 42-53

April 2: Pacification by Cappuccino? Third Spaces, Markets and Quasi Public Places Reading Required 1. Oldenburg, Roy (1999) excerpt from The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community, Da Capo Press 2. Sommer, R. (1989) Farmers Markets' as Community Events. In I. Altman & E. Zube. Eds. Public Places and Spaces. Vol. 10, Human Behavior and Environment. New York: Plenum. pp. 57-82. 3. SKIM: Valentine, Gill (1998). Food and the Production of the Civilized Street, in Ed. Nicholas Fyfe. Images of the Street, London: Routledge, pp. 192-204. April 9: Privatization and Threats to Public Space Reading Required 1. Banerjee, Tridib (2001) The Future of Public Space: Beyond Invented Streets and Reinvented Places Journal of the American Planning Association 67, 1; pp 9-24 2. Davis, Mike (1992) Fortress LA, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. New York: Vintage Books, pp 154-180 3. Zukin, Sharon (1995) Whose Culture? Whose City in The Culture of Cities, Blackwell Assignment: Reflection 3 due by midnight Monday, April 8. Be prepared to informally discuss the assignment in class. April 16: Privatization and Threats to Public Space (cont): Security Zones Reading Required 1. Newman, Oscar (1973) Defensible Space, in Defensible Space: Crime Prevention Through Urban Design, Macmillan 2. Security Zones and Shrinking Public Space website: http://securecities.com/ 3. Ellikson, Robert (2001) Controlling Chronic Misconduct in City Spaces in the Legal Geographies Reader, editors Bromley, Delaney and Ford, Blackwell 4. SKIM: FEMA Mitigation Options

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April 23: Activating Public Space Reading Required 1. Hajer, Maarten and Arnold Reijndorp (2002) excerpt from In Search Of The New Public Domain, NAi Publishers 2. SKIM: Gaffikin, Frank , Mceldowney, Malachy and Sterrett, Ken(2010) 'Creating Shared Public Space in the Contested City: The Role of Urban Design', Journal of Urban Design, 15: 4, 493 513 3. SKIM: Grover, Sami "Humanizing the Streets" or Just Plain Littering? The Art and Ethics of Eyebombing http://www.treehugger.com/culture/humanizing-streets-or-just-plainlittering-art-and-ethics-eyebombing.html Assignment: Identify a public space in Los Angeles. How would you activate it? April 30: Last Day of Class, the Future of Public Space; Reflection and Lessons Learned Assignment: Final Paper due by midnight Tuesday May 7

Statement for Students with Disabilities

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

Statement on Academic Integrity

USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect ones own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using anothers work as ones own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/.

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Supplemental and Recommended Readings

The following books and articles are not required, but complement topics that we will be discussing in class. They may also be useful sources for final papers Theories of Public Space Sennett, Richard (1977) The Fall of Public Man, Cambridge University Press, pp. 3-28 Arendt, Hannah (1958) The Human Condition Habermas, Jrgen (1962) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere Lofland, Lyn (1985) A World of Strangers: Order and Action in Urban Public Space, Waveland Press The Urban Institute, Beyond Recreation: A Broader View of Urban Parks http://www.urban.org/uploadedPDF/311011_urban_parks.pdf Plazas, Squares and Civic Space Low, Setha (2000) On the Plaza: The Politics of Public Space and Culture University of Texas Press Cooper Marcus, Clare (1998) Urban Plazas, in People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space Eds Cooper Marcus and Carolyn Francis, John Wiley and Sons Webb, Michael (1990) City Square Watson-Guptill Memory, Monuments and Cultural Landscapes th Bodnar, John (1992) Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration and Patriotism in the 20 Century, Princeton University Press Hayden, Dolores (1995) The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Schein, Richard H. (1997) The Place of Landscape: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting an American Scene, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 87, 4, pp 660680 Meinig, D.W., ed. (1979). The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes New York: Oxford University Press Clay, Grady (1973) Close-Up: How to Read the American City University of Chicago Press Streets, The Flaneur, Walking and Experiencing the City elik, Zeynep, Diane G. Favro, and Richard Ingersoll, eds. Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994 Buck-Morss, Susan (Fall 1986): The Flneur, the Sandwichman and the Whore: The Politics of Loitering, The New German Critique, 39 pp99140 Anderson, Stanford (ed) (1978) On Streets, MIT Press, Cambridge MA Jacobs, Allan B (1995) Great Streets. MIT Press, Cambridge MA Marcel DeCerteau (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life Berkeley, University of California Press David, Frisby (2001) Cityscapes of Modernity: Critical Explorations, Polity Press Cambridge UK Keith Tester, Editor (1994) The Flaneur Routledge, New York Women and Public Space Massey, Doreen B. (1994) Space, Place, and Gender Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Crawford, Margaret (1999) Blurring the Boundaries: Public Space and Private Life. Everyday Urbanism. Eds. John Chase, Margaret Crawford, and John Kaliski New York: Monacelli Press

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Ryan, Mary P. (1992) Everyday Space: Gender and the Geography of the Public, in Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 58-94. Brooks Gardner, Carol. Passing By: Gender and Public Harassment (Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press, 1995), pp. 1-4, 120-157 Bondi, Liz (1992) Gender Symbols and Urban Landscape Progress in Human Geography 16, pp15770 Youth Spaces, Children and Playgrounds; Healthy Public Spaces Hise and Deverell, (2000) Eden by Design University of California Press Stephan J. Schmidt, The Evolving Relationship Between Open Space Preservation and Local Planning Practice Journal of Planning History, May 2008; vol. 7, 2: pp. 91-112. Rosenzweig, Roy and Elizabeth Blackmar The Park and the People: A History of Central Park. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992 Kevin Lynch and Tridib Banerjee. Growing Up in Cities in eds Tridib Banerjee and Michael Southwroth. City Sense and City Design: Writings and Projects of Kevin Lynch. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990), pp.174-84. Kevin Lynch, ed. Growing Up In Cities. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,1977), pp. 56-59. William Whyte. Play Areas and Small Spaces in The Last Landscape. (New York: Doubleday, 1968), pp. 260-270. Gill Valentine, Public Space and the Culture of Childhood, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris (2003). Children's Common Grounds: A Study of Intergroup Relations Among Children in Public Settings, Journal of the American Planning Association, 69:2,130-43 Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris and O. Stieglitz, Children in Los Angeles Parks: A Study of Equity, Quality, and Children Satisfaction with Neighborhood Parks, Town Planning Review, 73:4, 467488, (2002). Chris Cunningham and Margaret Jones (1999) The Playground: A Confession of Failure? Built Environment vol. 25, pp. 11-17 Changing Neighborhoods and Changing Expectations Mullins, Paul R. (2006) Racializing the Commonplace Landscape: An Archaeology of Urban Renewal Along the Color Line. World Archaeology 38, pp 60-71 Wolch, Jennifer, JP Wilson, J Fehrenbach (2005) Parks and park funding in Los Angeles: an equitymapping analysis Urban Geography, 26, 1, pp.435. Privatization and Threats to Public Space Setha Low and Neil Smith (2006) Editors The Politics of Public Space, Routledge Ridley Scott, (1982) film Blade Runner, Davis, Mike (1992) Beyond Blade Runner: Urban Control, in The Ecology of Fear Kohn, M. (2004) Brave New Neighborhoods: The Privatization of Public Space, New York: Routledge Davis, Mike (2001) The Flames of New York in New Left Review 12, Nov-Dec pp. 34-50 Anthony Vidler (2002, A City Transformed: Designing Defensible Space in Grey Room, No. 7, Spring, pp. 82-85

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Chesner, Chris (1997) "The Ontology of Digital Domains" In David Holmes, ed., Virtual Politics: Identity and Community in Cyberspace, Sage Zukin, Sharon (1991) Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World Berkeley, University of California Press Sorkin, M. (Ed.) (1992) Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space, New York: Hill and Wang Gottdiener, Mark (2001) The Theming of America: American Dreams, Media Fantasies, and Themed Environment Boulder: Westview Press Policies and Practices for Activating Public Space Project for Public Spaces website Great Parks We Can Learn From http://www.pps.org/six-parkswe-can-all-learn-from/ Miscellaneous Project for Public Spaces 10 Tips for Taking Great Photos of Public Spaces http://www.pps.org/phototips/

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