Transgressive actions and the production of public space : policy, people and urban space in Winnipeg's downtown

Public space is planned space. The discourse that takes place among federal, municipal and local governments, as well as the interaction that takes place on the street between people, informs the agenda and values inherent in policy and social norms. Urban revitalization strategies and city bylaws produce public and private spaces, thereby informing the cityscape within which everyone interacts. This study examines the contribution, circulation and regulation of transgressive actions in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in order to consider what these actions reveal about power relations in the urban environment and the production of public space. This research uses both a policy case study and urban theory to investigate the means by which public and private spaces are produced and imbued with the ideologies that shape and maintain these spaces in Winnipeg's downtown area.