Re: The private mall as public space.

(Looking at Howard's forwarded message, I'm not sure who I'm replying
to here... or whether it will ever reach the author of the original
message)

>I don't know if the meaning of public space, what it means, what it
>does, how it is created, has ever been recently discussed in a
>sociology publication. If it has, I would very much appreciate
>anyone pointing me in the right direction.

I would strongly recommend Edward T. Hall's 'The Hidden Dimension'.
It's anthropology, not sociology - and his interest is not 'public'
space per se - but he has the most extraordinary insight into how we
relate to space (and how this varies between cultures). IMO, it
should be to architecture what Donald Norman's 'The Design of
Everyday Things' is to product design.

James