In this article on the Huffington Post, Lance Hosey writes about the horror of watching white surpremacists marching in the Charlottesville Downtown Mall on August 11th and 12th of this year. The Mall, which was significantly redesigned in the 1970s, serves as a unavoidable visual reminder of the pressing need for architects, designers, and city planners to reclaim public spaces from hate groups. As Hosey explains, "In the 70s, when the late landscape architect Lawrence Halprin led a community-driven design process that closed East Main Street to cars, they had the foresight to lift the brick paving on pedestals and give room to breathe for the newly planted trees’ root system, and four decades later the majestic Willow Oaks are bigger than buildings. Strolling down the Mall is like a walk in the woods. On Friday evenings in summer, 'Charlottesville's living room' teems with life, the most vivid sense of community I have ever known."

After describing the despicable events of the night and following day (which is also portrayed in this stunning, heartbreaking Vice documentary) Hosey laments that "The symbols defining public space should represent our common objects of love. When demonstrators out-gun the police while waving symbols of hatred, space no longer truly belongs to the public—it belongs to the mob."