Loose space : possibility and diversity in urban life / edited by Karen A. Franck and Quentin Stevens.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Tying down loose space / Karen A. Franck and Quentin Stevens -- Found spaces : freedom of choice in public life / Leanne G. Rivlin -- Open-ended space : urban streets in two cultural contexts / Nisha A. Fernando -- Betwixt and between : building thresholds, liminality and public space / Quentin Stevens -- Urban appropriation and loose spaces in the Guadalajara cityscape / Bernardo Jiménez-Domínguez -- Urban slippage : smooth and striated streetscapes in Bangkok / Kim Dovey and Kasama Polakit -- Transforming public space into sites of mourning and free expression / Karen A. Franck and Lynn Paxson -- Central Park, the aesthetics of order and the appearance of looseness / Julia Nevárez -- Heterotopias and the experience of porous urban space / Stavros Stavrides -- Stalker on location / Peter T. Lang -- Dead zones, outdoor rooms and the architecture of transgression / Gil M. Doron -- Social practices, sensual excess and aesthetic transgression in industrial ruins / Tim Edensor -- Unruly and robust : an abandoned industrial river / Lynda H. Schneekloth -- Patterns of the unplanned / Urban Catalyst (Philipp Oswalt, Philipp Misselwitz and Klaus Overmeyer).

Public space is a frequent theme in writing about cities, describing the ways in which urban activities, histories and identities are prescribed, controlled and homogenized. This text explores the concept of 'loose spaces', physical areas that are used in different ways.

"In cities around the world people use a variety of public spaces to relax, to protest, to buy and sell, to experiment and to celebrate. Loose Space explores the many ways that urban residents, with creativity and determination, appropriate public space to meet their own needs and desires. Familiar or unexpected, spontaneous or planned, momentary or long-lasting, the activities that make urban space loose continue to give cities life and vitality. The book examines physical spaces and how people use them. Contributors discuss a wide range of recreational, commercial and political activities; some are conventional, others are more experimental. Some of the activities occur alongside the intended uses of planned public spaces, such as sidewalks and plazas; other activities replace former uses, as in abandoned warehouses and industrial sites. The thirteen case studies, international in scope, demonstrate the continuing richness of urban public life that is created and sustained by urbanites themselves."--Publisher's description.