Rejecting the Communicative Paradigm of Public Space

Contemporary capitalism is often described as a economical system based on knowledge, whats indicate a shift from material production to more intangible assets related to exchange, control and circulation. It is strictly connected with something what we can define as a 'language (or communicative) turn' in debate on contemporary city, and particularly on public space. Architects and many urban theorist define public space as a kind of materialisation of Habermas' public sphere idea. However, the basic problem still concerns the relationship between the physical structure of the city, its social structure (in the broad sense) and the intangible constituents of modern capitalism. This paper challenges 'the language turn' in defining public space, focusing rather on production than communication, on a tangible outcome of a communicative action than on the communication itself.