Social Behavior in Public Spaces in a College Town

Abstract

Public spaces provide an important venue for social and political behavior.In this research, we investigate social behavior in public spaces in an American College town.Three research sites in and around the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are selected, and two kinds of public behavior -in the public and the private sphere -and private behavior are observed in the three locations.We seek to understand the relationship between public place and social behavior, types and variations of social behavior, and the importance of material or real public space.We find social behavior in the public sphere tends to concentrate in centrally located, symbolically powerful public places and that, despite increasing popularity of virtual public space, real or material public space continues to provide a vibrant environment for the public for their private as well as public behaviors.

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