Book Launch: Loose Space: Diversity and Possibility in Urban Life

6:11 PM EST on November 12, 2006

Activities which take place in "loose spaces" â€” which are found alongside the intended uses of planned public spaces like sidewalks and plazas â€” are largely ignored. Editors Karen Franck and Quentin Stevens introduce their book Loose Space: Diversity and Possibility in Urban Life (Routledge, 2006) and discuss how urban design might address those parts of the built environment that are undesigned or under-designed.

Aaron Donovan

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

Stay in touch

More from Streetsblog New York City

City Council

Not So Fast! We Rode NYC Ferry with Would-Be Council Speaker Amanda Farías

Council Member Julie Menin claims she has the votes to be the next Speaker, but Bronx Council Member Amanda Farías has shown a lot more interest in livable streets issues.

Dave Colon

November 28, 2025

Streetsblog USA Car Culture

Book Excerpt Special: Jonathan Lethem’s ‘Program’s Progress’

Class struggle. Infirm secondary superheroes. Suicidal sheep. It’s all in Jonathan Lethem's new collection of short stories, "A Different Kind of Tension." Here's one — featuring class struggle with cars!

November 28, 2025