Public Spaces, Private Spaces

I took the opportunity to travel around to other suburbs in Sydney during the semester break. I am writing this post in a café in Rozelle while waiting for my friends to arrive to conduct a site visit. Opposite the road where I was sitting, there is a school, the Rozelle Public School. During the weekends, the school compound is being used as a weekend market. This got me thinking on the definition of public spaces and private spaces. It is probably because I was reading on Nolli’s Plan last week.

The public spaces in Rozelle would be made up of the café spots along the shopping strip in either side of Darling Street. I would define cafes as public space as it is a place where people meet and interact despite not located outdoor. In fact, I feel that cafes has now become the dominant “public space” as oppose to the usual public squares and marketplace that used to be the definition of a public space. It is a sad phenomenon that people are now so drawn to the café culture where it has elevated the status of cafes to public space, at least as defined by me. It is also ironic to condemn the café culture while seating in one but the truth is I find that the more dominant places like Starbucks become, the less likely public squares are likely to be able to attract and gather people.

Looking across the road, the marketplace is definitely a public space for the people in Rozelle. However, during the weekdays, it is not open to the public. It is interesting that the school shifts from weekends to weekdays in its role of a public or private space. Another thing that comes to mind is that the definition of a public space may differ from kids and adults. The cafes are generally considered as public spaces for adults but the kids studying in Rozelle Public School are all younger than the age of 12 since it is a primary school. Do the definition of public space in the cafes along Darling Street extend to the kids? I believe that it would not. On the other hand, the open compounds around the school areas are the public spaces from the kids’ point of view whereas for the adults, the area is out of bounds during school hours.

The post-office next to the school reminds me of a discussion I had with my friends a while back. Post-offices and libraries are examples of public buildings which has been around for a long time to provide communication and books. However, the growing importance of internet in our daily lives and the speed of which internet allows for communication and access to knowledge may change the role of public buildings such as post-offices and libraries. Email has for the most part replaced hand-written letters and the transfer of documents. The online resources and innovation such as kindle and ebooks may slowly replace the need to go to a library to access any information. The internet itself is a source of unlimited information. The growing trend of online shopping may also slowly replace the need to have a shopping mall. The growth and the reliance on the internet may one day replace the need of public buildings and public spaces. It is a frightening thought that in the future, there may not be any public buildings left. Perhaps the Nolli Plan of the future will only be a diagram consisting of black boxes. Or perhaps (and hopefully) not.