Homes, homeless and public spaces

The past few weeks we talked about public spaces, creating them, using them and their importance among other interesting concepts. Though, most importantly we talked about how they have become increasingly privatized and brought under control. Mitchel’s article “The end of public space” showed us that public space is a space for exclusion, especially when it comes to the homeless as they basically are marginalized, hidden or sent away to wherever we cannot see them. Mitchel particularly affirms that people who have the right to be in public space are in their majority people with power.

For that matter, I was glad that Taylor brought us this issue of homeless in conjunction with public space by explaining what occurs in Hawaii. I believe I have something similar to share with two Ted Talks I came across recently. I really thought they are worth sharing because they involve a few concepts we read at the beginning of the semester and recent concepts altogether, such as creating homes and giving them identity, the need for public spaces and issues of homelessness.

I highly recommend starting with Iwan Baan Ted Talk. Is absolutely interesting!

Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/iwan_baan_ingenious_homes_in_unexpected_places

A few things we can observe in this Ted Talk is how public spaces are absolutely important and how a determined group of people, community, society will create their own when these aren’t available. These same communities or groups of people will ensure that they are maintained as spaces that are public, for everyone to use. It also evidences issues of adaptation and how human beings adapt to their circumstances. I thought this idea was interesting when it comes to the idea of homeless and homelessness and why neither of these is seen as a problem for people that live the transient lifestyle. They have adapted to their lifestyle and what for many of us might seem as a deviant behavior, for them is ordinary. Finally, in this Ted Talk, we can see the concept of identity and normality and how it plays a significant role in the “home making” or in the aspirations of people within a specific society. This can be specifically seen in the example of Caracas and the Tower of David.

On the other hand, the second Ted Talk is in contrast to the first. I am sure many of you will recognize Amanda Burden; she collaborated in building the High Line in New York. I believe we have seen her already in a video presented in class. I really like her presentation because of how she emphasized the importance of public spaces. Something she says reminded me of Mitchel’s article again. Mitchel proposes that spaces should be representations of space and spaces for representation at the same time. In this Ted Talk Amanda Burden affirms “Public spaces should not be taken for granted. Public spaces always need vigilant champions, not only to claim them at the outset for public use, but to design them for people that use them, and then, to maintain them to ensure that they are for everyone, that they are not violated, invaded, abandoned or ignored”.

Source:http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_burden_how_public_spaces_make_cities_work
She reinforces the idea that public spaces need some control. She does not specify what type of control exactly, but she sustains that they need to be maintained. I believe she refers to a passive control more than an active, but throughout her Ted Talk we can definitely recognize how these spaces are creating behaviors and citizens and how important public spaces are. She says public spaces have power, not because of who is using them, but because of how they make citizens feel within a city.