Reflexions on public space from disciplinary and regulatory mechanisms statement by Foucault

Abstract

Public space, understood as a space for socialization and construction of critical debates in the face of different problems, has been discussed from different theoretical perspectives that indicate its complexity, problems and importance, and even its extinction in the neoliberal context. However, there have been few works from Latin American literature that analyze certain behaviors and the depoliticization of public space based on the disciplinary and regulatory mechanisms exposed by Michael Foucault. Through a theoretical review of the concepts of biopolitics and public space, it is highlighted that various urban interventions have had an impact on disciplining the individual in the use and appropriation of public space and in the control of the population, through self-government, that emanates from society itself as it regulates behaviors. In this way, it is argued that the analysis of public space from biopolitics allows us to understand the why of certain behaviors, as well as the neutralization of the political character.