You can’t sit with us: the rise of privately-owned public spaces
It would stand to reason that the public owns public space. But unbeknown to the public, there’s a new breed of space masquerading as public that’s quietly spreading in plain sight.
Privately-owned public spaces, or ‘PoPs’, are on the rise and have silently infiltrated cities worldwide. In fact, you might use one day-to-day without even knowing – and there could be more to come.
On the surface, these pseudo-public spaces can look like any other accessible space like a park, open square or throughway. But in fact, they don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the local government. They’re owned and operated by private developers or private companies.
“Public space is publicly-owned space, where people have fairly broad rights linked to values of democracy and freedom of expression,” says urban designer and landscape architect Dr Mike Harris from UNSW Built Environment.
“There’s this whole other set of rules that apply to PoPs, which is completely antithetic to the definition of public space. They’re not really public spaces at all – they should be called privately-owned, publicly-accessible spaces.”
Private ownership, public(ish) space
Despite what you might think, private ownership and management of spaces in the public realm is nothing new, and it’s quite common in other parts around the world.
Since the 1960s in New York, building ordinances stipulate developers can build more floor space in exchange for providing public space.
“The developer [has] an incentive to provide public space on their private development, which then remains under their ownership and management, and the local authority doesn’t have to worry about looking after it,” Dr Harris says.
Similar models in Australia encourage developers to build or improve public space on behalf of the city. For residential developments, developer contribution plans can require public domain works as a condition of approval. But the management of the space can cause friction for neighbourhoods.
“If [an] owners corporation is left with the cost to maintain the space, it can cause resentment and threaten the ongoing viability of the space,” Dr Harris says. “Arguably, the greatest good comes if this land is handed over to the council on completion to become part of the public space network [like] true public space.”
However, more spaces in newer urban developments in Australia are beginning to operate under a conventional PoPs model – where private developers control the ‘public’ land. Mounting financial pressures on local authorities to outsource the management of public space have also coincided with the rise.
Benjamin Knight is a Media and Content Assistant at UNSW in Sydney. He gained a Bachelor of Media degree in Public Relations and Advertising in 2017.