A history of spaces, a history of powers: towards a genealogy of public space notion

Jorge Eliécer Martínez P.
jmartinezp2@gmail.com
Universidad de la Salle, Colombia

Abstract:

This paper addresses the notion of public space. Following Michel Foucault’s statement that “making a history of spaces would be, at the same time, making a history of powers”, a genealogy of this notion is presented, which accounts for a history of the diverse powers that helped to their occurrence. This means to conceive space as the result of an interaction of truth, power and knowledge games in which subjects are emplaced —such an interaction is called “governmentality”. Accordingly, public space would rather be a spatial form inaugurated by certain power relations which want to “give the appropriate place” to certain human interactions, within the bounds of a specific governmental model, historically traceable pretending to lead life.

Key words: power, heterotopies, space, governmentality, biopolitics.