Public space and identity. Three scenarios of interpretation in the contemporary city

Abstract

This study explores a conceptual approach about urban identity, understood in the public space as an urban setting that shows significant links with the citizenship. In a categorization of different sources, three scenarios are proposed that pose situations about identity: the idea of ​​the neutral city, as a trend towards the standardization and homogeneity of public space based on flow and movement that consolidates a global identity. The simulation of public space, which consists of strengthening city experiences contained in the private ambit through dynamics of consumption and security. And the last one, the approach from gender perspective and diversity that includes the manifestations of the spatialization of identity through the use and equal access of people and specific social sectors to the public space. As a result, it is possible to establish that these scenarios reinforce ways of understanding urban identity, in a more universal and less particular way of recognizing the city, the implementation of urban systems and habits from control and predictability, and the conflict from the spatiality and the territories that can divide or generate inclusive urban spaces.