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On the Hard Work of Domesticating a Public Space

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  • Regan Koch
  • Alan Latham

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of domestication as a way of attending to urban public spaces and the ways in which they come to be inhabited. It argues against the tendency in urban scholarship to use the term pejoratively and interchangeably with words like pacification or taming to express concerns relating to the corrosion of public life. Rather, the aim here is to develop domestication as a concept attentive to the processes by which people go about making a home in the city. Given the tremendous investment, enthusiasm and amount of policy directed towards urban development and regeneration over the past decade, it is argued that it is vital that urban scholarship continues to develop tools and concepts for offering fine-grained attention to the spaces that get produced by these interventions and to the social dynamics within them. These arguments are developed through a case study of the Prince of Wales Junction in London.

Suggested Citation

  • Regan Koch & Alan Latham, 2013. "On the Hard Work of Domesticating a Public Space," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(1), pages 6-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:50:y:2013:i:1:p:6-21
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098012447001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ash Amin, 2008. "Collective culture and urban public space," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 5-24, April.
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