Rights to Public Space - Sig Langegger Gebunden

This book examines the roles that public space plays in gentrification. Considering both cultural norms of public behavior and the municipal regulation of behavior in public it shows how commonplace acts in everyday public spaces like sidewalks streets and parks work to establish neighborhood legitimacy for newcomers while delegitimizing once authentic public practices of long-timers. With evidence drawn from the formerly Latino neighborhood of Highland in Denver Colorado this ethnographic study demonstrates how the regulation of public space plays a pivotal role in neighborhood change. F irst there is often a profound disharmony between how people from different cultural complexes interpret and sanction behavior in everyday public spaces. Second because regulations codes urban design and enforcement protocols are deliberately changed commonplace activities longtime neighborhood residents feel they have a right to do along sidewalks and streets and within their neighborhood parks sometimes unexpectedly misalign with what is actually possible or legal to do in these publicly accessible spaces.