Public places and empty spaces: dislocation,urban renewal and the death of a French plaza |
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| Authors: | Roza Tchoukaleyska |
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| Institution: | Environmental Studies, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, NL, Canada |
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| Abstract: | This article examines the dislocations produced when competing understandings of public space come into contact. Focusing on Montpellier, France, where an urban renewal program has seen portions of the city-centre renovated, the article considers the breaking apart of a North African commercial cluster under the guide of French heritage protection. Arguing that such action is tiedto municipal urban politics and wider trajectories that place diverse identities in a separate category, I trace the process through which a plaza encompassed in the urban renewal program has been labelled as “empty” and “dead” space. Suggesting that the relocation of a well-used outdoor food market is an instance of public space being deliberately emptied of its social and civic function, I argue that such sites are better defined as “municipal spaces”, entities that are firmly in the realm of the state, rather than ones within the purview of diverse publics. |
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| Keywords: | Public space urban redevelopment empty space heritage protection food markets France |
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