New restrictions on public space in England and Wales could make "unusual or unpopular" behavior criminal

2015-09-08T18:02:00-04:00

Public Space Protection Orders, or PSPOs, came into existence last year under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Similar to the much-derided anti-social behaviour orders (asbos), PSPOs allow for broad powers to criminalise behaviour that is not normally criminal. But where asbos were directed at individuals, PSPOs are geographically defined, making predefined activities within a mapped area prosecutable.

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Taking a stand against privately-owned public spaces

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Taking a stand against privately-owned public spaces

2015-08-04T12:52:00-04:00

the place where cities get “remade” is in the public rather than private sphere. Part of the problem, then, with privately owned public spaces (“Pops”) ... is that the rights of the citizens using them are severely hemmed in. [...] [Pops] feel too monitored, too controlled, to allow this communal activity to simply unfold. London, and many other cities, are failing miserably to enable diversity in people’s engagement with such spaces.

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New restrictions on public space in England and Wales could make "unusual or unpopular" behavior criminal

Taking a stand against privately-owned public spaces