Justice
What Makes a Public Space Good for Democracy?
The best world capitals to raise a democratic ruckus.
Political protest in the past few years has famously moved online. You can build a movement on Facebook, organize it with Foursquare and document it on Instagram. Many academics and media commentators fell in love with the idea of whole social revolutions powered by Twitter in the immediate wake of the Arab Spring.
But all of these digital tools still have not sidelined one of the most basic needs of democracy: actual, physical public space. Sure, angry young Egyptians organized themselves with smart phones and cell signals in January of last year. But they still needed Tahrir Square.