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When
you walk down the sidewalk, do you pause to consider
who owns the ground on which you tread?
Not likely. Everyone knows that no one owns the
sidewalks on which we walk, the streets on which
we drive. We assume that such places are public
spaces, a fact we would be quick to assert should
anyone try and stop us from quietly enjoying the
sidewalk. Whether or not we know who owns what seems
to be public space, there is this idea that a particular
sphere exists which is public domain. This sphere
is indispensable in creating society, and therefore
should be evaluated with a view to what quality
of interaction it fosters, and how accessible that
interaction is to the members of the society it
creates and supports.
The old town square, the highway, the shopping mall
and the internet all share this common characteristic:
they lend themselves to evaluation in the context
of public space. Quite a long time ago, before you
could get to the mall by car, you had to walk out
the front door, down the street to the butcher,
then to the baker and finally the candlestick maker.
Along the way you might run into Mr. Jones, who
would tell the latest gossip about Mrs. Smith. You
might walk through the town square, to fetch water
from the well, sit and chat or sell some of the
potatoes from your garden. Maybe there would be
a public execution that day. Is it that insane horse
thief? Finally he gets his due. Fast forward a hundred
years. The milk is delivered to your door. Why is
the milkman always so friendly? After putting the
milk in the fridge you walk outside to your car,
and drive along the gravel road to the general store,
stopping at the bakery on the way home. Your family
is one of the first I the neighbourhood to have
a car. You drive past the milkman who delivers milk
by horse and buggy. When you get home, the phone
rings (before call display and answering machines).
It's Aunt Gertrude again, complaining about Grandpa.
Nowadays you might take the elevator in your condominium
down to the secured underground parking lot. You
curse the automatic security door for always opening
too slowly. Hopefully at the perimeter security
gate of your "neighbourhood complex" the guard will
not be so slow. You drive down a wide street flanked
on either side by strip malls, until you finally
arrive at the indoor shopping mall. You park your
car, walk through the mall, past all the franchise
clothing stores, until you finally get to the supermarket.
As you walk back to the car you end up buying that
cool looking sweater; but in a few months everyone
else will have that sweater too. But then why bother
getting into your car to go and by groceries when
you need only go online, place an order for a few
cartons of Mr. Noodles, and use the time you saved
to "chat" with that special person you "met" from
Swaziland. You can read a bit of the online "newspaper"
and leave your comments on the chat forum--maybe
even get into a good argument there. Oh, just a
minute, is that a chat request? Not now, I really
must get back to my work.
Consider
a few characteristics of public space, and how the
various scenarios measure up. Public space ought
to be space that is accessible to all, from which
no one may be excluded. In the old town square,
anyone was free to walk through; one was hindered
perhaps only by physical incapacity. Of course,
if you dare create an illegal disturbance, you might
quickly find yourself the subject of an angry crowd's
rant of "To the gallows!" In the days of the general
store, the road was not only for cars. Those not
so fortunate to have a car took to the streets with
bicycles, or maybe even horse and buggy. Those wealthy
enough to have telephones could communicate instantly
with people from anywhere on the continent. Anyone
can ring you, and whether or not you feel like chatting,
you will probably pick up the phone, because you
don't know who it might be, and besides, it doesn't
ring that often. The phone lines become a means
of connection to the world at large, and so also
become a kind of public domain. In 40 years everyone
will have a telephone, but right now, it is a public
space open only to the rich. And what of modern
suburbia, with its wide streets and its shopping
malls? These are public spaces, right? It seems
so. Next to the time the average North American
spends at home, work and school, he or she spends
more time at the mall than anywhere else. While
the mall seems open to anyone, it is in fact privately
owned. If the owner asks you to leave, stay only
at your own peril. The streets on which you drive
seem accessible to all, but consider those who do
not have cars. Sure there are sidewalks, but every
place worth going to is separated by strip malls
with their expansive parking lots. Try walking through
an expansive parking lot. How many crosswalks are
there? Of the various public spaces described above,
the internet is currently the least accessible.
The price of a computer and internet service is
undoubtedly prohibitive, especially for the 15-20%
of Canadians who live below the poverty line. In
most of the rich nations, only 15-30% of the population
is wired. To be fair, every public library has free
internet access, but that can hardly be said to
make it as accessible as having access in the home.
While
access is perhaps one of the most obvious evaluative
criteria of public space, another nonetheless important
criteria is the way that public space shapes human
interaction. In the old town square you interacted
with others face to face. You could always see the
expression on another's face. It would be pretty
hard to avoid talking to Mr. Jones if you didn't
want to. While the interaction in the town square
centred around commercial relations--people selling
their wares to others--political, religious and
social relations also played a prominent role. The
church and the town hall were right there, and justice
could at least be seen to be done. With the advent
of the automobile and telephone, public space served
less of a social and political role. It became easier
to separate the workplace from the home from the
school, and the likelihood of bumping into someone
decreased. The indoor shopping mall brought everyone
together again, but it did so by attracting and
serving consumers, rather than citizens. Of course
one is never forced to buy something, but it certainly
makes "hanging out" more fun. Since you most often
get to the shopping mall by car, it is still pretty
easy to make it from the home to the store and back,
without really having to interact with anyone. Enter
the internet. Now there is a place where you can
bump into anyone from anywhere in the world. But,
while you can meet anyone from anywhere, you will
never know if they are real. You can trust them
with your secrets, but do you feel as vulnerable
as you would if you were just walking through the
old town square. There is shopping, there is politics,
religion and sex. Of course, dropping into Amazon.com
or www.chapters.ca is not quite the same as sitting
in the bookstore and soiling with coffee the magazine
you now definitely do not intend to buy. Arguing
your politics or religion carries no risk; you don't
have to face your opponent. And do you know anyone
who has given up real sex, claiming virtual sex
to be "even better than the real thing."
Living in society has always been an essential part
of humanity. The kind of society we live in is shaped
by the way we interact with other members of society--how
do we form our perceptions about other groups, other
individuals. Public space serves as one place where
groups and individuals come together, and the key
issues of who has access to public space and what
kind of interaction is fostered by it are issues
important to the discussion of what kind of society
we hope to live in.
Copyright
© 1999 Dean Dalke
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