Urban Publics and Incorporated Space: A Case Study of Bryant Park.

Through a case study of Bryant Park in New York City, this paper analyzes the emergence of incorporated space as a form of social control in contemporary cities. At a time when many public spaces were being closed down-secured with higher walls and greater restrictions to entry-Bryant Park was opened up, as its walls were taken down and the park was rebuilt in order to maximize access and visibility. This was no project for democratizing urban space, however; the renovation of Bryant Park had as its goal the reassertion of control over a space considered to be chaotic and a population cast as "undesirable." This paper investigates the emergence of incorporated space from its surprisingly heterogeneous sources. It examines the process of renovating and re-regulating the park, which entailed the installation of new ruling authorities, new technologies of control and a new conceptual approach to the problems of the public's space in cities. The case of incorporated space suggests that urban scholars may need to rethink the connection between space, power, exclusion and the public. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]