Inbetween Spaces for Social Interaction – New Public Realm and the Network Society

In the emerging network society, the continuous homogenisation of the city leads to an anesthetization of the public realm due to the expulsion of every possible element of friction and conflict that we assume to be essential in the concept of vital urbanity and public domain. Interactions and exchange are instead suppressed in the “new public spaces”: places oriented towards consumption and where rules of personal conduct are enforced, denying the presence of spontaneity of uses and the multiculturalism of urban interaction, essential characteristics of the public domain. This latter can be defined as a social space where interaction occurs and where instability and conflicts are conditions of the existence of a public sphere. Therefore we recognise potential public places as the luminal spaces of the fragmented city, in between freedom and friction.