Loose Space: Possibility and Diversity in Urban Life

by Karen A. Franck, Quentin Stevens

In cities around the world people use a variety of public spaces to relax, to protest, to buy and sell, to experiment and to celebrate. Loose Space explores the many ways that urban residents, with creativity and determination, appropriate public space to meet their own needs and desires. Familiar or unexpected, spontaneous or planned, momentary or long-lasting, the activities that make urban space loose continue to give cities life and vitality. The book examines physical spaces and how people use them. Contributors discuss a wide range of recreational, commercial and political activities; some are conventional, others are more experimental. Some of the activities occur alongside the intended uses of planned public spaces, such as sidewalks and plazas; other activities replace former uses, as in abandoned warehouses and industrial sites. The thirteen case studies, international in scope, demonstrate the continuing richness of urban public life that is created and sustained by urbanites themselves

Genres: Architecture

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2006

Reviews

[Brandon Young]

An interesting depiction of the in-between spaces that designers often overlook but are just as important as the designated and invested private / public spaces that don't or may not get as much use.