Intolerance for Noise and Disorder: Questioning the ‘Publicness’ of Auckland's Lower Queen Street

Abstract

In this article, we argue that considerations of public space should move beyond a concern for the visual and encompass a more fully embodied approach. On the basis of qualitative research in central Auckland, New Zealand, we explore the ways in which individuals and groups are marginalised through not only concerns for visual social order, but also other sensory considerations. Fieldwork in lower Queen Street, the city's pre-eminent commercial and pedestrian thoroughfare, revealed a widespread contradiction: business people and users of public space favour social diversity in principle, but recoil from embracing this diversity in practice. This was especially the case when the difference entailed visual, aural and touch-related challenges to orthodox assumptions regarding the consumption-based purposes of public space. We conclude that for public spaces to thrive, a certain amount of noise and embodied disorder must be tolerated.

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