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Organized by the Danish research group Island Dynamics, a recent conference on culture in public space explored the intersection between social, ecological, and urban forms from within a global perspective. Contributors from more than 20 countries were brought together in Copenhagen to discuss the construction and formation of urban space through its relationship to culture.

Adjunct Professor Lior Galili spoke about New York City’s Times Square as a national and international site attuned to the arrival of new media. Her presentation focused on the implications of the mid-90s redevelopment plan, 42nd Development Project, a response to the crime that governed Times Square from the 1940s to the 1980s. The plan was intended to clean up the site and improve its image, highlighting the tensions between a desire to get rid of the “old” and construct a “new” Times Square, but the persistence of the “original” site’s image within the collective memory produced a new kind of urban fabric.