Civil Society, Civility, and Urban Public Space

This paper critically discusses a common liberal relationship between civil society and civility.It highlights how liberal theory constructs a theory of civil society which, at the same time, suggests that one can pursue certain democratic ideals as long as they remain 'civilised'.The paper shows how these liberal ideals have in practice constrained the voices of many from participating fully in the public sphere.Moreover, liberal ideals on civil society and civility have been employed to physically exclude from the public sphere those deemed to be 'uncivilised'.These ideals have also been reproduced into contemporary developments in urban public space.The paper first maps out early classical liberal debates on civil society and civility.Following this, the paper shows how these early debates became reproduced in new ways in more contemporary strands of liberal theory.Focusing on the UK and USA, the paper then discusses how these themes have found their way into a number of changes in urban public space in these two countries.The article concludes with some final thoughts.