The 15-M mobilisation and its settlement in the squares has put us at the forefront of the debate on what a square is and how it is used.
Square, to place, to choose a site. It is the first recognised urban action, even nomadic tribes, when they stop temporarily, organise themselves around a central, concentric space.
With the maturation of agriculture came sedentism, human settlement (taking a place, a square), the city. In many cultures, particularly in the Mediterranean, it is very easy to identify the square as the “twin” of the city, the engine of physical, economic and social development. Physically, one reads the more or less radial concentration of the main roads.
At all times the different powers have wanted to “preside” over this space: the religious with the church; the political with the Town Hall…; the economic with the palaces and mansions; and the social power, the people, has continually manifested itself.
The square is the urban hall, the most convivial space in the city, the place where citizens relate to each other and, therefore, the scene of social life. The square is as diverse as we people are: the Greek Agora or the Roman Forum that values the public dimension of urban life, as a place of parliament and political and philosophical discussion; a place where the pulse of political, judicial and religious power is manifested; a market place from the beginning of the agricultural surplus; a place for folkloric manifestos; a place for recreation… Con el coche y los transportes públicos, las plazas también se han convertido en rotondas y cruces de redes que han desplazado a las personas haciendo “trasvases” sin contacto social.
The alienation of people from public space is worrying, we hardly have any contact, squares are losing their social function.
Today it is extraordinary to note the classical recovery of the agora from the digital or telematic communication society: the recognition of digital opinion forums towards the power of the square space, the choice of the physical place of debate and discussion manifesting the social political pulse.
The difficulty of translating the social debate into “politics” is also noticeable, but surely the great gain of the 15-M movement is this recovery, this added value of the square.
POSTDATA: It’s also cool to think that it happened unconsciously.
