Typology: Public Square | Thinkpiece | Architectural Review
▻https://www.architectural-review.com/rethink/typology-public-square/10017533.article
When human particles collide in the accelerator of the square, the public comes into being – as evanescent as an unstable element
When millions of women gathered to protest the election of Donald Trump last month, they met in squares. Such spaces find their purpose as condensers for the activity of the crowd, whether recreational, political or commercial (not that these are separable, here or elsewhere). Created to facilitate the functions of the state and to endow its rituals with a field of action, the square has an equal and opposite function as the incubator of its critics, even its demise. Squares are multivocal and, although they vary in quality, from the humble and irregular to the vast and grandiose (and the question remains as to what extent their design colours the activity that takes place therein), their character ultimately lies in their blankness. They are tabula rasa. Nazi rallies may be held here, but they are also places – need it be added? – for punching Nazis in the face.