Street, Palace, Square

Name: Street, Palace, Square
Brand: Penguin Books Ltd
Price: 28.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

The Architecture of Democratic Spaces

Author: Jan-Werner Müller

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Format
Digital Audiobook

Available: 7th May 2026

Digital Audiobook

$28.99

or 4 interest-free payments of $7.25 with

Available: 7th May 2026

Preorder. Download available after release.

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Building requires power and resources - then, once created, our environment structures how we relate to each other. But what would a distinctly democratic built environment look like? Should we prioritize an inclusive process by which as many citizens as possible can decide how a building is designed? Or is it about how architecture and urban spaces can best represent democracy to citizens - and how building and city planning can concretely facilitate democratic action by citizens?

In Street, Palace, Square, political theorist Jan-Werner Muller offers an elegant new account of architecture and democracy that draws on examples from Washington DC to Dhaka, Cairo to Berlin. Ranging widely across political philosophy, history and design, he shows that bringing architecture and democracy together has an unexpected benefit. As we reflect on spaces and symbols on the one hand and our understandings of democracy on the other, we might see possibilities we did not see before: how to create spaces for citizens to make politics their own.