Public and Exclusive Space

Public space - what is it? Quite simply, it is space open to the general public, without restrictions, and without any sort of price attached to it. Public spaces include parks and roads, neither of which are owned by a person or corporation. Exclusive space, on the other hand, is space into which only certain people may enter, whether it be by affiliation with the space or through some kind of special permission. This may be an office building, a government laboratory, or a house. Naturally, these two types of space often come into conflict with each other because of people's interests or simply because there isn't enough room in the world for enough of both. The trend in recent years has been for exclusive space to win out over public space. Why is this, and should it be reversed?


One of the benefits exclusive space has over public space is that it usually makes someone a profit. In America, a capitalist nation, this is of tantamount importance, and of course quite legal. As corporations expand or individuals accumulate more wealth, they seek to branch out in several ways, one of these being the physical expansion of their domain. It is, perhaps, in our instincts to conquer as much as possible and to show our might to our peers and to the world. Whatever the reason, exclusive space is proliferating.

Public space, just as exclusive space, has its benefits, the most important of these being the sense of community it harbors. People gather in parks and chat with each other, they hold events, and they enjoy the company and the feeling of being outdoors. Public space also plays off of the feeling that ownership of exclusive space gives - it makes a person feel better, somehow, to know that there is a range of places available to them, and they can overlook the fact that it is available to everyone.

Both of these kinds of spaces have their merits, and they should both be considered as more and more land (and, as is just beginning to happen now, outer space) is devoted to one side or the other. Certainly private ownership and public use of spaces can coexist; it is up to those responsible to find the right balance.