Abstract

GORELIK, Adrián. The Public Space Romance. Alteridades [online]. 2008, vol.18, n.36, pp.33-45. ISSN 2448-850X.

In this work we examine how in the eighties the phrase public space appears as a category capable of explaining all (an omni-explicative category). Even though it was absent in the cultural, sociological and political vocabularies for several decades, it reappeared especially as a functional category that operated as the most appropriate bridge to link the diverse dimensions of public and urban life. We also study the peculiar moment of "urban optimism" that generated it, and we continue observing its changes from the nineties until present time. We noted that even though the category of public space is still used by urban operators, its conceptual value and its urban reality have suffered immense mutations. Thus, the aim of this text is to demonstrate that the so called: urban public space has become a ghostly space, and what we designate as public space , is now a fetish that disguises it spectral condition.

Keywords : public space; urban culture; urban policy; Buenos Aires.