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Setha Low

Setha Low is Distinguished Professor of Environmental Psychology, Geography, Anthropology, and Women’s Studies, and Director of the Public Space Research Group at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Recent books include Spatializing Culture (2017), Anthropology and the City (2019), Spaces of Security (with M. Maguire) (2019), Why Public Space Matters (2023), and Trapped (with M. Maguire) (2024) and Beach Politics (2025). She lectures internationally on public space, social justice and diversity in partnership with the UN Habitat Global Public Space Programme.

A colorful collage that includes a family feeding pigeons in a city square, friends relaxing in a park, and an example of hostile architecture

On the Meaning and Value of Public Spaces

What is public space? How is it produced, and why is that production important for our social and political lives?