Storefront for Art and Architecture

READING IMAGES SERIES: In Search of the Public

May 14, 2013

7pm

At the Reading Images Series: In Search of the Public, Storefront for Art and Architecture and the authors of In Search of the Public: Notes on the Contemporary American City, including Mario Gandelsonas, Rafi Segal and Els Verbakel, discussed public space and how recent urban events such as Occupy Wall Street have modified citizens’ understanding of public space.

Washington, DC (May 2013) — How much is public space worth? How can it be mapped, understood, and strengthened? In Search of the Public: Notes on the Contemporary American City (Publication Date: May 27, 2013) presents a collection of projects, essays, and interviews from prominent experts that deal with the evolving role of public space within contemporary American urbanism.

The authors look at public spaces from an economic perspective, viewing them as public goods at a time when the public realm is shrinking in many cities as the market of dollars takes priority over the market of ideas. In each piece, leading thinkers tackle the challenge of making shared space in an age of urban growth and change.

The book examines public space from ancient agora to Washington D.C.’s Anacostia waterfront. Authors look at the imminent build out of New Jersey—an extreme situation that prefigures a nationwide encounter with the limits of sprawl. Lastly, the book exposes “the public” as the blind spot of an urbanism that dismissed the relevance of public spaces, an absence that became glaring with the reactivation of public spaces by social media, popular uprisings in the Middle East, and the “occupy” movement in the United States and around the world.

Contributors come from a range of disciplines including architecture, policy, and non-profit advocacy. Contrary to urban studies that focus their efforts on issues such as zoning, building codes, and land use policy, this publication focuses on the relevance and potential of architecture—as a practice of programming and form making—to transform the city and change our conception of public space.

By bringing together a range of perspectives, In Search of the Public underscores the value—and necessity—of an urbanism that respects community, particularly in an age of social, economic, and environmental challenges.

Books were available for purchase at the event.

About the Book

In Search of the Public: Notes on the Contemporary American City presents a collection of essays, interviews, and projects that deal with the role of public space within contemporary American urbanism. This publication examines the physical, social, and political impact of public/collective space through three key aspects: ownership, density, and the right of access within the city. The book looks at public spaces from an economic perspective viewing the spaces as public goods at a time when the public realm was rapidly shrinking as a result of the extreme dominance of the market of dollars versus the market of ideas. The text also confronts the imminent build out of New Jersey—and extreme situation that prefigures a nationwide encounter with the limits of sprawl. Finally, the book exposes the public as the blind spot of an urbanism that dismissed the relevance of public spaces that are now reactivated by the reinvestments in urban areas.

Contributors come from a range of disciplines, bringing together perspectives of architects, politicians, academics, and non-profit advocates. Contrary to urban studies that focus their efforts on issues such as zoning, building codes, and land use policy, this publication focuses on the relevance and potential of architecture—as a practice of programming and form making—to transform the city and change our conception of public space.

In Search of the Public: Notes on the Contemporary American City

Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Cntr for Arch, Urbanism & Infrastructure (May 27, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0988666308
ISBN-13: 978-0988666306
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.4 x 10 inches

About the Authors

Mario Gandelsonas is a professor of architectural design, Class of 1913 Lecturer in Architecture, and the director of the Center for Architecture, Urbanism, and Infrastructure at the Princeton University School of Architecture.

Rafi Segal is principal of Rafi Segal Architecture Urbanism, located in Tel Aviv. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and has taught at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Els Verbakel is a founding partner of Derman Verbakel Architecture in Tel Aviv and a lecturer at the Technion Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning.

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The Reading Images Series is an event series that brings groups of scholars, architects, artists and critics together to closely look into images and construct arguments, narratives and observations that produce incisive readings of form, politics, gaze and representation.