What Makes Public Space Public? Matt Patterson University of Toronto Presented at the Michigan Social Theory Conference March 2010 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI The question I will be addressing in the presentation is what makes public space public? Focusing on how city inhabitants themselves make this distinction (rather than political-economic criteria), I will present the concept of “public legitimation”, which I define as a process by which particular urban spaces become recognized as legitimately representing the collective interest and/or identity of a local public. I will then discusses ways in which the material features of a space impact whether or not it will gain legitimacy, and conclude with a discussion of how established legitimacy impacts the social actions of different groups within the urban environment. My presentation will draw on examples from a wide variety of urban sociological studies, as well as from my own dissertation work. My interest in developing a new approach to public space comes from my dissertation work in the area of culture-led urbanization. This subfield of urban studies investigates the causes and consequences of cultural strategies for stimulating post- industrial urban economies. Often these strategies include building places within cities that facilitate the consumption of unique cultural amenities aimed at attracting outside investment into the local economy (Miles and Paddison 2005). Some of the best known examples of culture-led urbanization include the development of the Frank Gehry- designed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and the work of Richard Florida (2002) in promoting the “creative city”. My own research investigates two iconic architectural