Social quality of public space. An introduction

The introduction outlines the central idea of the book and the individual contributions. Fassari and Löw argue that quality is based on experience. Quality emerges from relational social interactions rather than being an inherent property. The authors set out the research questions addressed in the book: What is the social dimension of quality? When is social coexistence in public spaces successful? When do spaces have (which) qualities? They demonstrate that the book addresses a clear gap in research, as questions of quality have only been sporadically addressed in social theory. They go on to elaborate on the identified key logics – integration, strategy, and subjectivation – as central to understanding spatial quality. The distinction between the logics reflects the main perspectives and subjects of research chosen by the authors to investigate the quality of empirical objects.