GEOG 2200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Social Capital, Robert Neuwirth, Letchworth
Document Summary
Science fiction provides us with a wider spectrum of future cities ranging, also from dystopian visions to utopian ones. But it also includes how we understand the nature of our homes, our offices, our urban areas. Architecture and urban planning ideally exist at the intersection of the real and the imaginative. Urban planning involves very real technical issues, associated with infrastructure, but it also must consider the social, the living space in which we, people, inhabit. Let"s take a step back first, before looking at the future. While human settlements throughout history are varied and complex, all have some mix of public space and private space. Public spaces have existed since humans have begun creating settlements, some 10,000 years ago. Public spaces include streets, sidewalks, parks, plazas, squares and public buildings. These spaces support activities that take place in the civic realm markets, exchange, defense, pageantry, sports, and for leisure.