for mike merle
> > >Berlin beats London and Washington in league table of world's best democratic >spaceAugust 8th, 2012 in Other Sciences / Social Sciences > > > >New research from the University of Warwick suggests that Berlin has the best >democratic space in the world, topping a list that includes London, Washington >and Tokyo. >The list appears in a new book, 'Democracy and Public Space: The Physical >Sites of Democratic Performance' written by Dr John Parkinson, from the >University of Warwick's Politics and International Studies department. >Dr Parkinson carefully selected 11 capital cities and assessed how well they >provide space for all kinds of democratic action. He visited Berlin, >Washington, Ottawa, Canberra, Wellington, Hong Kong, Mexico City, London, >Tokyo, Santiago and Cape Town. >He said: "In my book I have tried to answer the question, what makes for a >good capital city from a democratic point of view? Even though revolutions and >protests may be co-ordinated via Facebook and Twitter, they still involve real >people who take up, occupy, share and contest physical space. Politics is >still a physical pursuit, even in an online, interconnected world." >Dr Parkinson looked at a number of criteria, including the accessibility of >public buildings, but also the availability of public meeting space, parks and >footpaths, public transport systems and more. >"I wanted to see not just how formal buildings like parliaments work, but how >easy it is for citizens to perform democratic roles in those cities. Plenty of >cities are good for shopping and tourism; democratic citizenship is harder." >Berlin came top of the list because it ticked many of the boxes. Dr Parkinson >attributes this to the city's past as a symbolic battleground. >He said: "Berlin has been the site of so many battles over the use of public >space for political purposes. Right now, battles continue over how far the >city should go erasing the physical remnants of Cold War divisions. Even >questions over sites like Tempelhof Airport, a Nazi-era building but an >important symbol of the Berlin Airlift, are unresolved. But the very fact that >people have these debates is healthy – it means Berliners are more likely to >value space for expressly democratic purposes, and resist attempts to turn it >over to purely commercial or leisure interests." >Cape Town is bottom of the list largely because the public is heavily >stratified there, the legacy of the apartheid era. Dr Parkinson also notes >that in Washington DC the needs of heritage and tourism dominate the >democratic spaces, such as the Congress building. " >London is placed eighth in the list because: "Comparatively, London is a >ferociously expensive city to get around; its public spaces are policed to an >extent unmatched except by Washington; and it is indulging in the >privatisation of footpaths and roadways." >The full list of cities: >1) Berlin >2) Wellington >3) Ottawa >4) Canberra >5) Washington, DC >6) Hong Kong >7) Mexico City >8) London >9) Tokyo >10) Santiago/Valparaiso >11) Cape Town >Provided by University of Warwick >"Berlin beats London and Washington in league table of world's best democratic >space." August 8th, >2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-08-berlin-london-washington-league-table.html >Posted by >Robert Karl Stonjek > > >
