Public Spaces / Public Spheres: Some Geographies of Space and Democracy

In this short paper I question the validity of aligning new public spaces with the idea of a public sphere of democratic determination. I suggest that the current emphasis on public spaces in urban development schemes is nostalgic, repeats the ungrounded advocacy associated with culturally‐led urban redevelopment, and masks a widening democratic deficit. Looking to geographical writing on space as a realm of boundaries and exclusions, I ask whether insights from this can be applied to the problem of what constitutes a democratic public sphere (if one exists). I conclude that occupations of urban spaces constitute a proto‐public sphere but are necessarily ephemeral.