Public protests are a vital tool for asserting grievances and creating temporary, yet tangible, communities as the world becomes more democratic and urban in the twenty-first century. While the political and social aspects of protest have been extensively studied, little attention has been paid to the physical spaces in which protests happen. Yet place is a crucial aspect of protests, influencing the dynamics and engagement patterns among participants. In The Design of Protest, Tali Hatuka offers the first extensive discussion of the act of protest as a design: that is, a planned event in a space whose physical geometry and symbolic meaning are used and appropriated by its organizers, who aim to challenge socio-spatial distance between political institutions and the people they should serve.

Presenting case studies from around the world, including Tiananmen Square in Beijing; the National Mall in Washington, DC; Rabin Square in Tel Aviv; and the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Hatuka identifies three major dimensions of public protests: the process of planning the protest in a particular place; the choice of spatial choreography of the event, including the value and meaning of specific tactics; and the challenges of performing contemporary protests in public space in a fragmented, complex, and conflicted world. Numerous photographs, detailed diagrams, and plans complement the case studies, which draw upon interviews with city officials, urban planners, and protesters themselves.

About the Author

An architect and urban planner, Tali Hatuka founded and directs the Laboratory of Contemporary Urban Design (LCUD) in the Department of Geography and Human Environment at Tel Aviv University. She is the author of Violent Acts and Urban Space in Contemporary Tel Aviv: Revisioning Moments.

Reviews
An impressive and serious-minded effort to build an analytical framework that would allow us to evaluate protest actions as design interventions on their own terms...a book like this is, indeed, long overdue. * Journal of Planning Education and Research *
[The Design of Protest] opens up exciting lines of analysis by examining protests as spatial choreography, using concepts such as theater, ritual, and icons as new frames of understanding. It also broadens the terrain through careful consideration of a diverse set of protests. -- Planning Theory & Practice



Book Information
ISBN 9781477315767
Author Tali Hatuka
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint University of Texas Press
Publisher University of Texas Press
Weight(grams) 880g
Dimensions(mm) 254mm * 178mm * 33mm