Changing public space

home country but also evaluate public space elsewhere such as Cybriwsky (1999) comparing New
York City and Tokyo. Dutch publications also tend to refer to a variety of examples of foreign
public space. Hajer and Reijndorp (2001), for example, illustrate their search of a new public
domain with examples from Birmingham, Salzburg, and other non-Dutch cities. De Jong and
Schuilenburg (2006) also bring up examples from all over the world. They use the CityWalk
in Los Angeles as an illustration of the trend that public space becomes increasingly protected
and isolated, similar to shopping malls, gated communities, and business improvement districts.
In another section, they turn to Japan, where 1,2 million people aged 20 to 30 do not leave their
bedroom at all. These people, named Hikikomori or Japan’s Lost Generation, avoid public spaces
because these cause stress and have become redundant as Internet fulfils the contact with the
outside world.
Using foreign examples is valuable when describing general trends or outlining similarities
and differences between countries. To have this frame of reference, international literature is
cited frequently in the present research. However, it is important to note that the Dutch situation
is central in the thesis and can differ considerably from international examples. Staeheli and
Mitchell (2006), for example, state that drug dealers, panhandlers, and other people exhibiting
uncivil behaviour have overrun the traditional town square in the United States. Much of the
British public-space literature is concerned with the use of CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television)
as security measure, as these are almost universal in large cities in the United Kingdom (e.g.,
Fyfe & Bannister, 1998; Toon, 2000). Similar observations can be made in the Netherlands but
to a much lesser extent. Surveillance cameras, for example, are not yet omnipresent in Dutch
city centres although CCTV is on the rise. In addition, there are differences in scale (in terms of
size, problems, etc.) between cities and public spaces in the Netherlands and those in the US, the
UK or elsewhere. When there are considerable differences between claims in the international
literature and the Dutch situation, reference to these differences is made.
1.4 Research objective and research questions
Public spaces have been popular subjects for investigation. Given the large number of
international publications on urban public space, the existing knowledge on the subject is
extensive (e.g., Carr et al., 1992; Gehl & Gemzoe, 1996; Goheen, 1998; Banerjee, 2001; Atkinson,
2003; Dines & Cattell, 2006; Iveson, 2007; Lownsbrough & Beunderman, 2007; Stevens, 2007).
Nevertheless, further research on public space is indispensable. In the context of the present
study, the most important reason to pursue the subject is the relative underexposure of urban
redevelopment in the field of Dutch urban geography, as outlined in Section 1.1. Many cities
are or recently have been in the process of upgrading their public spaces. Yet little is known
about the backgrounds of this development. Nor do we know if and how redevelopment will
influence the design and management of public space. Although several Dutch publications
address some of the changes that can be observed in public space (e.g., Van der Wouden,
1999b; Hajer & Reijndorp, 2001; Brunt & Deben, 2001; AIR, 2007), the importance of the
redevelopment of urban public space does not seem to have been fully explored. In other words,
the increasing attention for policy on public spaces has not been accompanied by an equivalent
growth in academic output. The underlying motivation behind this research was to provide
insight in the redevelopment of Dutch city squares, which could be generated by researching
21