Reclaiming public space. A critical architecture

Carless, Tonia; Mead, Terry; Diaz, Louis; Creed, Isobel

Abstract

The theme of this paper is to consider the increasing commodification of space and the role of architecture and urban design within this schema. It will examine public space and consider where it resides and how this is shifting. It will look at the mechanisms that operate to control and recover public space and how architects’ representations are bound up in this process.
The paper will expand upon architectural proposals and constructions of real space. It will examine the ongoing project of ‘The travelling panorama rotunda’, which aims to offer a resistance and critique of these design practices, through the construction of an event space, using architectural representation. It will propose a theoretical investigation through an architectural practice.
The paper will look at the work of Henri Lefebvre, and examine how public space is being capitalized.
It will also consider the role played by redevelopment strategies, as defined by Neil Smith in his analysis of the processes of gentrification. The project also offers a reconsideration of the ideas of the anarchist
architect Colin Ward and grass roots movements from the 1970s for reclaiming and occupying and how these might be reinterpreted in the contemporary context, through an ‘Open School’ proposal.
The architectural projects that have been developed as part of this process use event architecture, drawing and other architectural representations and these will be analysed in order to project a utopian analysis of public space and the potential reclamation and
occupation of public space.
Reclaiming Public Space. A Critical Architecture.
Dr Tonia Carless,
Oxford Brookes University, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Edited Proceedings
• Conference Name: OCCUPATION: Negotiations With Constructed Space
• Start Date: Jul 2, 2009
• End Date: Jul 4, 2009
• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2009
• Online Publication Date: Jul 1, 2013
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Feb 28, 2023
• Pages: 26-27
• Book Title: OCCUPATION: Negotiations With Constructed Space
• ISBN: 978-1-905593-73-6
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10488665
• Publisher URL: https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/publications/occupation-negotiations-with-constructed-space