Public Space and Its Role to Transforming the Community

Abstract

The socio-spatial organization of the cities, directly linked to the certain economic and political system, appears as a demonstrative reference of the current urban transition towards post socialist cities. The task is to determine, whether disqualifying socialism is a substantive aspect of post-socialism; either if the contemporary public space should still represent the theatre for programmed, controlled activities, or are they mixture of rejection and adaptation to new situation through informal activities. The presence of symbols in public space is manipulated by ideologies in order to construct eligible narratives. The change of reading the public symbols, when substituting the socialist ideology by the other single ideological attitude of globalized consumption, depends on the critical links between official policies and the types of responses on the community level.The paper is targeting reflection on a new form and structure of selected public spaces in Lučenec, with the emphasis on their iconicity, shaping the collective memory through the quiet erosion of the socialist icons. The aim of the article is to present the possibilities for the future policy making, as the conception of authorities for transparent regulation of public space is missing.