Public places and empty spaces

Dislocation, urban renewal and the death of a French plaza

Bibliographic Data

ID11670456
AuthorsRoza Tchoukaleyska (0009-0009-6349-6211, Environmental Studies, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, NL, Canada, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume39
Issue6
Pages944-962
Publication date2018-01-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02723638.2017.1405872
OpenAlexW2783107877
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited52

This article examines the dislocations produced when competing understandings of public space come into contact. Focusing on Montpellier, France, where an urban renewal program has seen portions of the city-centre renovated, the article considers the breaking apart of a North African commercial cluster under the guide of French heritage protection. Arguing that such action is tiedto municipal urban politics and wider trajectories that place diverse identities in a separate category, I trace the process through which a plaza encompassed in the urban renewal program has been labelled as “empty” and “dead” space. Suggesting that the relocation of a well-used outdoor food market is an instance of public space being deliberately emptied of its social and civic function, I argue that such sites are better defined as “municipal spaces”, entities that are firmly in the realm of the state, rather than ones within the purview of diverse publics

Political science · Politics · Public space · Publics · Realm · Relocation · Sociology · State (computer science · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Diverse Cultural and Historical Studies · French Urban and Social Studies · Law

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