Malcolm Miles. Presentation

Public Spaces, Public Sphere and the Contemporary City

The concepts of public space and a public sphere are inherited from the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. These neo-classical concepts tend to be supported by classical precedents, such as the Agora of classical Athens. The Agora is seen as a site of social mixing and the exchange of ideas, a proto-public sphere in a public space, reflecting an eighteenth-century ideal of social evolution which was seldom matched by reality either in the Enlightenment or the classical past. In the twenty-first century, these constructs may be undermined by the evidence of how social change occurs, or overtaken by new media and forms of communication. The question is complicated by the encroachment of private space on pace, and in a climate of neo-liberalism of private enterprise on the public realm; while it is vital to support and protect the public interest, this needs to be done in context of a more critical understanding of what now constitutes the public sphere in which, progressively, a society’s values and organisation are determined by its members. Anti-globalisation protests since the late 1990s, and Occupy in 2011-12, offer a particular light on the issues, as do the efforts at self-organisation of groups in the global South. Nonetheless, these tend to be localised, small-scale initiatives. What insights can be gained for cities in the global North?

Malcolm Miles 

Malcolm Miles is Professor of Cultural Theory at the University of Plymouth, UK, where he convenes the Culture-Theory-Space research cluster. He is author of Helbert Marcuse: An Aesthetics of liberation (2011), Urban Utopias (2008), Cities & Cultures (2007), Urban Avant-Gardes (2004) and Art Space & the City (1997), co-author of Consuming Cities (2004, with Steven Miles), and co-editor of the City Cultures Reader (2nd edition 2003, with Tim Hall and Iain Borden). He has contributed to journals including Space & Culture, Urban Studies, and Parallax. 

Malcolm Miles é professor de Teoria da Cultura na Universidade de Plymouth, UK, onde faz parte do grupo de investigação Culture-Theory-Space. Miles é autor de Helbert Marcuse: An Aesthetics of liberation (2011), Urban Utopias (2008), Cities & Cultures (2007), Urban Avant-Gardes (2004) e Art Space & the City (1997), co-autor de Consuming Cities (2004, com Steven Miles), e co-editor of the City Cultures Reader (2nd edition 2003, com Tim Hall e Iain Borden). Tem vindo a colaborar com jornais como Space & Culture, Urban Studies, e Parallax.