Metropolitics

Democratic public spaces in the face of terrorism

Carole Gayet-Viaud & translated by Oliver Waine — 2016-01-29T06:00:00Z

The collective harm inflicted by the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday 13 November 2015 results in part from the fact that the perpetrators of these attacks took the specific qualities of urban public spaces and turned them against the city: hospitality, anonymity and the presumption of trust in others. All these characteristics form the foundations of civil exchanges in democratic public spaces.
The terrorist acts of which we were victims in Paris on Friday 13 November 2015 caused both

- Essays / public space, democracy, sociabilities, attacks, citizenship, civility, hospitality, trust, mores, politics, street, terrorism

What we can learn from babies' sociability

Carole Gayet-Viaud & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-10-09T04:55:00Z

The sociability of very young children reveals a neglected dimension of relations and interactions in public, and highlights issues associated with ordinary urban contact that often go unnoticed. Civil interaction exhibits an inclination towards friendliness, a concern for others and the surrounding world, which, while admittedly limited and sometimes disputed, nevertheless contributes to an ordinary sense of belonging to a moral and political community.
---- Series: Children in the City

- Essays / public space, proximity, children, sociabilities, interactions, civility, civil inattention, education, teaching, common good, friendliness, order in public, socialization

Social Norms and Resistance on the City Bus

Sofya Aptekar — 2015-05-05T04:50:00Z

While subways are hailed as the quintessential New York experience, with their own museum, T-shirts, and lore, the city's buses often get forgotten or, worse, imbued with a reputation of lawlessness due to its often poor and minority riders. Sofya Aptekar counters this common myth by showing how social order and morality play out among diverse populations on the buses of Astoria in Queens.
“Only black people take the bus.” This pronouncement came from Levent, one of my students in an adult

- From the Field / public space, ethnicity, public transportation, transport, New York, minorities, mass transit, race, bus, civility, Queens, Astoria, Featured