To reclaim a public space you must first know where to find it.

Privately-owned public spaces (POPOS) are little bubbles of public space paired to new commercial developments, often in exchange for zoning variances.

NYC has over 500 of them; See Zuccotti Park.

Anonymous locations and heavy surveillance has meant that many of these spaces are underutilized and only nominally public.

In short, the public feels unwelcome.

But now, several groups have rolled out their own welcome mats, and are working to reclaim these spaces. San Francisco-based Rebar Group collaborated on Commonspace, a collection of artists' dispatches on the kinds of playful mischief they each hatched at some of these sites. This project was expanded by San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) into the report "Secrets of San Francisco", which includes a downloadable San Francisco POPOS map.

As it turns out, camping isn't the only way to stay occupied. Say you're in San Francisco and have the urge to fly a kite on a rooftop garden. You're in luck. Just head over to the sun terrace at 343 Sansome Street. Just an easy 7-minute walk from our local Federal Reserve Bank!



Marianne Amoss, “Challenging the Commons: a yearlong experiment tests a new breed of urban public space in San Francisco,” The Next American City, Fall 2007.