Companion to Public Space

The Companion to Public Space draws together an outstanding multidisciplinary collection of specially commissioned chapters that offer the state of the art in the intellectual discourse, scholarship, research, and principles of understanding in the construction of public space.

Thematically, the volume crosses disciplinary boundaries and traverses territories to address the philosophical, political, legal, planning, design, and management issues in the social construction of public space. The Companion uniquely assembles important voices from diverse fields of philosophy, political science, geography, anthropology, sociology, urban design and planning, architecture, art, and many more, under one cover. It addresses the complete ecology of the topic to expose the interrelated issues, challenges, and opportunities of public space in the twenty-first century.

The book is primarily intended for scholars and graduate students for whom it will provide an invaluable and up-to-date guide to current thinking across the range of disciplines that converge in the study of public space. The Companion will also be of use to practitioners and public officials who deal with the planning, design, and management of public spaces.

Vikas Mehta is an Associate Professor of urbanism at the School of Planning at the University of Cincinnati. His research explores the various dimensions of urbanity through the exploration of place as a social and ecological setting and as a sensorial art. Mehta is the author of Public Space, an anthology of 98 chapters; The Street: A Quintessential Social Public Space, which received the 2014 Book Award from the Environmental Design Research Association; and with Matthew Frederick, 101 Things I Learned in Urban Design School.

Danilo Palazzo is a Professor and Director of the School of Planning at the University of Cincinnati. Prior to moving to Cincinnati, Palazzo was on the faculty at the Polytechnic University of Milan. His major fields of interest are urbanism, urban design, and planning. Palazzo, with Frederick Steiner, has authored Urban Ecological Design: A Process for Regenerative Places, as well as contributing a chapter on "Pedagogical Tradition" to the Companion to Urban Design.