Social Behavior in Public Spaces in a College Town

Public spaces provide an important venue for social and political behavior. In this research, we investigate social behavior in public spaces in an American College town. Three research sites in and around the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are selected, and two kinds of public behavior - in the public andthe private sphere - and private behavior are observed in the three locations. We seek to understand the relationship between public place and social behavior, types and variations of social behavior, and the importance of material or real public space. We find social behavior in the public sphere tends to concentrate in centrally located, symbolically powerful public places and that, despite increasing popularity of virtual public space, real or material public space continues to provide a vibrant environment for the public for their private as well as public behaviors.Javni je prostor važno mjesto društvenoga i političkoga djelovanja. U našem istraživanju bavimo se društvenim ponašanjem na javnom prostoru američkoga sveučilišnog grada. Odabrali smo tri lokacije na i oko kampusa Urbana-Champaign Sveučilišta Illinois i promatrali dvije vrste javnoga ponašanja, u domeni javnoga i privatnoga, te privatno ponašanje na odabranim lokacijama. Pokušali smo razumjeti odnos između javnoga mjesta i društvenoga ponašanja,tipove i varijacije društvenoga ponašanja, te važnost materijalnoga, odnosno realnoga javnog prostora. Pokazalo se da se društveno djelovanje u javnoj sferi koncentrira na centralnim, simbolički moćnim javnim mjestima i da, usprkos rastućoj popularnosti virtualnoga javnog prostora, realni ili materijalni prostor i dalje ljudima predstavlja uzbudljiv i živ okoliš za javno i privatno djelovanje