The political geography of public space: The socio-spatial meanings and critique of squares

Abstract

This article critically examines squares as one of the most emblematic public spaces of the modern urban realm, within the framework of the political geography of public space. Squares are often conceptualized as natural and neutral arenas of encounter, representation, and collective life, and are understood as socio-spatial systems that perform economic, political, and social functions as public spaces. In addition to serving multiple functions for various social groups, squares also operate as contested spaces where relations of power become visible, public legitimacy is produced, and the symbolic reconstitution of social order takes place. For this reason, squares are also approached as political geographies that are continuously reproduced through the regulatory practices of the state, security regimes, and interventions by social movements. This study aims to analyze the socio-political and conflictual character of squares through three main theoretical entry points: the critical analysis of public space, the production of space approach, and relational conceptions of space. Positioned within critical urban theory, these frameworks argue that squares are multi-functional and contested spaces produced through historical, socio-political, and spatial relations. In particular, it is emphasized that in the modern era, especially in the context of nation-state building processes and modernization across many societies, squares have played a central role in the representation of power, the delimitation of the boundaries of publicity, and the construction of collective identities. In this study, squares are first addressed as multifunctional public centers throughout history, secondly as sites of memory where collective remembrance is materially inscribed, and finally as political arenas where negotiation and conflict among different social actors intensify. The aim of this article is to examine, drawing on relevant literature, the extent to which squares function both as stages of dominant regimes of representation and as sites where counter-publics emerge, through historical, political, and social examples. At the same time, this study critically engages with approaches that reduce squares merely to spaces of encounter, gathering, and collective representation, and instead emphasizes their conflictual character. In doing so, it seeks to rethink squares as public spaces and to open up discussion of them as fundamental components of political geography in modern cities.