Citizen Oversight of Public Spaces: Evaluating Public Participation in Managing Privately Owned Public Spaces

Privately owned public spaces (POPS) are intended for public use but are owned and maintained by building owners. Many POPS in Seoul fail to offer a welcoming environment due to inadequate maintenance and illegal private use. In this study, we explored whether citizen participation can effectively e...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Urban affairs review (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) Vol. 61; no. 4; pp. 1071 - 1108
Main Authors: Jung, Sungju, Lee, Jae Seung, Kim, Saehoon
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2025
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Architects
Citizen participation
General public
Inspections
Owners
Public buildings
Public participation
Public spaces
Public use
Violations
public space
citizen participation
public participation
privately owned public space
community engagement
ISSN:1078-0874, 1552-8332
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Privately owned public spaces (POPS) are intended for public use but are owned and maintained by building owners. Many POPS in Seoul fail to offer a welcoming environment due to inadequate maintenance and illegal private use. In this study, we explored whether citizen participation can effectively enhance the management of POPS and reinforce the general public’s determination to reform public spaces. We involved nonprofessional citizens and local architects in simulated inspections and qualitative assessments of Seoul’s POPS. The citizens were able to effectively identify violations in POPS and provide more rigorous qualitative evaluations from a user perspective than experts. Following the inspection, the citizens developed a new sense of responsibility as stakeholders in urban public spaces. These findings reveal that citizen participation could make POPS more public and empower citizens to become active agents in improving public spaces.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:1078-0874
1552-8332
DOI:10.1177/10780874241300469