Planning, Space and Resources, Essay Example

Outline of the problem area for the project

Public spaces refer to places or areas that are accessible and open to the public, regardless of the aspects of gender, socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicity, and age. The public spaces are, therefore, public gathering spaces that include parks, plazas, and squares, and also include the various connecting areas that include streets and sidewalks (Collins & Shantz, 2009). During the 21st century, different virtual spaces that are available on the internet have additionally been regarded as public spaces that have been developed through social mixing and public interactions.  The daily experiences of the urban lifeways, which include the use of various public resources in and beyond the boundaries of an individual’s home are considered as public acts carried out within the public spaces. The open spaces, therefore, encompasses individuals in almost all places, including parks, sidewalks, the mass transits, markets, lecture halls, museums, and the contemporary art centers amongst others.

Nevertheless, the limits and dimensions of what is regarded as the public are divergent from one region to another and are mainly acted on and changed by the economic, cultural, political, and social forces. The public spaces are the main features within the conception of urban life alongside democratic governance. The contemporary cities’ public spaces tend to function in an increasingly and significantly intricate fashion. Though the above-stated spaces considered public as intended by the designers of the public utilities, they tend to be far from being genuinely public. Critical evaluation of contemporary public spaces makes it increasingly evident that they are rife with both confrontation and contradictions. For instance, while it offers individuals the opportunity for free contact with various strangers and social representation, the aptitude for evaluating one’s position within society.   Also, the chance to attain political entity status, it is a locus in which the economic advantage effectuate their economic, cultural, and political dominance. According to Mitchell and Staeheli (2009), owing to its central role within the modern urban life, public space perceived as being under threat, and such risks have driven the research and debate on the open space in geography, and the threats are from diverse sources.

Formulation of the research question for the project

What are some of the challenges brought about by tourism to the planning and provision of public space in contemporary cities?

How has tourism influenced the residents’ use of public spaces?

How may the provision of public parks in contemporary cities be clarified through their analysis using the governmentality concept?

Explanation of the concepts

Public Spaces

Public spaces mainly imply the areas increasingly accessible and open to the public, irrespective of the gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and age. Public spaces include the public gathering areas such as parks, plazas and squares, and the diverse connecting spaces like the streets and sidewalks. In this regard, Collins and Shantz (2009) maintain that the public spaces often assume several forms in addition to serving an array of functions, thereby defying the simple description. The 21st century has witnessed the development of virtual spaces found the internet and considered to be public spaces developed through social mixing and public interactions.

Place

Scientifically, the concept of place refers to the approach regarding a region perceived through the spatial concept. Thus, the area lies within the core of geography’s interest (Cresswell, 2009), and the place concept may, therefore, imply the location within the space. The place can, therefore, taken as where the dimensions developed by individuals’ relations with the physical settings, group and individual activities, and implications. Some of the concepts used in the description of the quality of relationships that individuals have with a given place include the sense of place and place identity. As a concept, the sense of place has often been used in the study of human attachment, bonding, and place implications. Thus, the sense of place has been described as the overarching impression that encompasses the general ways in which individuals perceive and feel about the area since it allows value and concept to it. The sense of place is advantageous to the study of the attachment of public place and the pro-environmental attitude concerning the places. The development and preservation of the knowledge of place are considered critical in the maintenance of the environment’s quality, as well as the human life integrity within it.

Politics of Place

The political struggle has been observed to add activities to the remade and made places in addition to assuming the vital role with regards to the approach’s description. According to Staeheli and Mitchell (2009), the contestation of the politics of place are often in the practical sense given that the ownership conflicts, place activities, and the implication or importance of place are mainly conducted using public discourses, laws, policies and transgression acts. Individuals often face several challenges with regards to how they live within the places. For instance, individuals often make efforts geared towards attaining the sense of belonging given that politics is a crucial aspect in determine.ni.ng whether an individual belongs to a given place or not. Owing to this observation, politics determined how the existing resources are distributed in a home and the place’s residents’ rights that mold their future regardless of their possession of limited control concerning the structures. Various social orders tasked with the performance of diverse activities affirming one’s territory.

Relevance and application of the concepts

The concept of Politics of Place directly linked to the idea of public spaces given that politics has been used in the determination of regions regarded as public spaces and their uses through various policies. Moreover, the concept of politics of place is also relevant to the research given that politics has been used in the determination of how resources are distributed and allotted within the public areas. In this regard, politics can be observed to have permeated all places, and occupying a given open space entails being caught up in issues of governance and politics at the regional, national, and municipal levels.

The concept of place is vital to the research on public spaces given that it not only determines where the private and public jurisdictions end but also establishes how the value of public spaces evaluated and the elements of public spaces that are vital to individuals. Moreover, the concept of place is essential to the research given that it establishes how human interactions, land usage, economic and political decisions, and representation language are used and occur within the public spaces. This, therefore, enables the looking at the public spaces from the interdisciplinary point of view.

The concept of public spaces is vital for the existing project given that it will not only enable the determination of the various effects of tourism on public spaces but also enable the decision of how the existing public spaces can be used effectively. Thus, the concept is vital in determining and solving the diverse challenges brought about by tourism about the planning and the provision of public spaces in various modern cities. Still, the study of the concept of public spaces is relevant and applicable to the project will enable the researcher to establish the multiple ways through which the local occupants tend to use the public spaces in influencing tourism either negatively or positively.

References

Collins, D., & Shantz, B.-M. (2009). Urban Public Spaces. Amsterdam: Elsevier Ltd.

Mitchell, D., & Staeheli, L. A. (2009). Public Space. Amsterdam: Elsevier Ltd.

Staeheli, L. A., & Mitchell, D. (2009). Politics of Place. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Ltd. Cresswell. (2009). Place. Amsterdam: Elsevier Ltd.