In the wake of terrorist attacks in 2001, efforts to secure the American city have life-or-death implications. Yet demands for heightened surveillance and security throw into sharp relief timeless questions about the nature of public space, how it is to be used and under what conditions. Blending historical and geographical analysis, this book examines the vital relationship between struggles over public space and movements for social justice in the United States.

Presented are a series of linked cases that explore the judicial response to public demonstrations by early 20th-century workers, and comparable legal issues surrounding anti-abortion protests today; the Free Speech Movement and the history of People's Park in Berkeley; and the plight of homeless people facing new laws against their presence in urban streets. The central focus is on how political dissent gains meaning and momentum and is regulated and policed in the real, physical spaces of the city.