Harvey S. Perloff Lecture Series

JUST URBAN DESIGN: THE STRUGGLE FOR A PUBLIC CITY

The ideal of a city as a space for all persists. Cities are held up as progressive beacons, spaces of diversity and inclusion that will protect against reactionary politics. But they are as well held captive to economic development pressures that have exacerbated social problems through privatization, gentrification, and displacement. At stake is the notion of the city as a public sphere, in which all ‘citizens’ of the city can make claims for political life. The focus of this lecture series is the public city and its struggles. This forum will question the role of urban design and spatial interventions in delineating conflicts over what constitutes public(s) in cities, and pose ideals or alternatives, what Friedmann called “guiding, normative images” of the “good city” (2000). What makes a public city? Who is it form? How is it made?