Public Space as a Public Good: Some Reflections on Public Space to Enjoy Solitude

Abstract

This paper explores the public space as a public good. Public space is understood as a "void" in the urban continuum that has unlimited access for the city dwellers. We study the public space as a physical, material space, as imaginative material space and as a formative part of the public domain in order to answer the following question: what are the aspects of public space that articulate the city? The public space is necessary for social and economic reasons. The city needs both spaces to socialise, meeting places, and above all, spaces for the enjoyment of solitude. A public park, for example, can at the same time fulfil both social needs. A public space is also economically efficient. It is unfeasible for each person to own a garden with majestic trees, a large pond and a vine-covered pergola. But many people could for example at the same time use a public park that has all these features. The public space as defined in this paper has the two characteristics that define a public good, namely non-excludability and non-rivalry. Public spaces are non-excludable by definition as everyone can access them. They can be, and sometimes are, to an extent nonrivalrous. That is, the enjoyment of a user does not detract from the enjoyment of any other. It follows that when users start to interfere negatively with each other"s enjoyment the public good becomes congested and it is not able to perform all or some of its functions. Artis sola domina necessitas. Otto Wagner This motto could be translated as "Necessity is art"s only master", and although it originated with Semper, Wagner adopted it as his own. He used it to impress the students in the inaugural class of their first year. According to Wagner, there are a number of functional requirements that an architect needs to comply with down to the very last detail. He should choose his building materials wisely and they should be easy to work with, easy to maintain, durable and economical; and he should also opt for a simple, economical structure. Only after having taken these principles properly into account should he consider the question of the forms that would emerge from these premises, which should be in harmony with one another and should always be easy to understand. A work of art created in accordance with these precepts will always be in keeping with the style of its time. In fact, Wagner"s architectural ideas were basically functionalist, thirty years before the start of the Modern Movement. Let"s begin with the necessitasin other words, with the raison d"être of the public space as a place for spending time alone. In order to do so, we must

By yourself, yet not alone: Making space for loneliness

“…However, in practice, there appears to be little space in communal life for being by oneself (i.e. coming ‘single’ rather than ‘with’, in the terminology of Goffman, 1971): with a few exceptions such as public transport or libraries, ‘public’ and ‘solitude’ tend to be perceived as opposites in architecture (Komac, 2016). (Semi-)public space in cities is arguably widely conceptualised and built as meeting space rather than as space to spend time by oneself.…”