Mediated Conviviality and the Urban Social Order: Reframing the Regulation of Public Space

The regulation of public space is influenced greatly by debates about crime, disorder and (in)security. This paper challenges certain assumptions that inform a number of competing mentalities regarding the regulation of public spaces drawn from within the fields of criminology and urban studies, notably ‘preventive exclusion’, ‘reassurance policing’ and the ‘right to the city’. It harnesses interdisciplinary insights from real-world examples to reframe and advance debates about the future regulation of public space, conceptualized in this paper as ‘mediated conviviality’. It argues that social order is not spontaneous but needs to be facilitated. This perspective simultaneously decentres crime and (in)security as central organizing concepts and recognizes the importance of safety to the development of a convivial public realm, with implications for practical strategies of urban governance.