Book excerpt: Publics and the City investigates struggles over the making of urban publics, considering how the production, management and regulation of 'public spaces' has emerged as a problem for both urban politics and urban theory. Advances a new framework for considering the diverse spatialities of publicness in relation to the city Argues that a city's contribution to the making of publics goes beyond the provision of places for public gathering Examines a series of detailed case studies Looks at the relationship between urbanism, public spheres, and democracy