The rise of urban social protests aside, we will focus on the architectonic features of public space--why some are more conducive to collective action than others, how urban planning encourages or defeats spontaneity of such action, and whether space can be substantive and creative in itself, atop being passively enabling.
Preparation:
Gray Read's "Theatre of Public Space: Architectural Experimentation in the Theatre de l'espace"
David Wiles's "The Cave", in his A Short History of Western Performance Space
Marsha Meskimmon's "Foundation - Dynamic Ground", in her Contemporary Art and the Cosmopolitan Imagination