The ludic city : exploring the potential of public spaces / Quentin Stevens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stevens, Quentin, 1969-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sociology, Urban.

Public spaces.

Play.

Physical Description:

x, 234 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2007.

Summary:

Why do we have public spaces in cities? What are they for? What role do they have in everyday social life? The Ludic City argues that one of the fundamental functions of public space is as a setting for informal, non-instrumental social interaction, or play. The concept of play highlights the distinctive character of urban experience: the ways people sense urban settings, move through them and act within them. Play is an important but largely neglected aspect of people's experience of urban society, and embraces a wide variety of activities which are spontaneous, irrational or risky, and which are often unanticipated by designers, managers and other users. Focusing on the playful uses of public space, this book provides a much-needed counterpoint to the instrumental pragmatism which dominates everyday urban life and the design of city spaces.

Drawing together arguments from the fields of urban design, planning, sociology, anthropology, philosophy and environmental psychology, this book provides a fresh and detailed depiction of play in the specific context of urban public space. By illustrating the forms that play takes, it reveals people's creativity, curiosity and imagination in using urban space.

The Ludic City draws upon extensive observation of behaviours in public spaces, with detailed studies of Melbourne, London, Berlin, New York and Brisbane. The findings suggest that even the most typical street corner or innocuous doorway can be a site for risk-taking, the display of identity and testing the limits of one's own abilities. The book will provide urban designers, policy-makers, planners and researchers with an awareness of how a playful, non-reductive understanding of space and social practice can positively shape urban design practice and public policy.

Contents:

Urban conditions and everyday life

Play and the urban realm

The social dimensions of urban space

Paths

Intersections

Boundaries

Thresholds

Props

Conclusion : fun follows form, fun follows 'function'.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [220]-226) and index.

ISBN:

9780415401791

0415401798

9780415401807

0415401801

9780203961803

0203961803

OCLC:

74568623