Brave New Neighborhoods: The Privatization of Public Space

Fighting for First Amendment rights is as popular a pastime as ever, but just because you can get on your soapbox doesn't mean anyone will be there to listen. Town squares have emptied out as shoppers decamp for megamalls; gated communities keep pesky signature gathering activists away; even most internet chatrooms are run by the major media companies.Brave New Neighborhoodsconsiders what can be done to protect and revitalize our public spaces. In recent years, courts have upheld prohibitions preventing homeless people from begging in the subway, tenants from distributing newsletters to their neighbors, and activists from leafleting in front of the post office.Brave New Neighborhoodslays out the blueprints of the future towns these changes have created, and in this new geography, the First Amendment comes from the wrong side of the tracks.

Margaret Kohn is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida