Are public spaces truly public? According to the Legal Information Institute, loitering is only a crime when a person lingers in a public space for no apparent reason or to engage in gambling or business activities (Loitering 2023). While not explicitly stated and purposefully vague, loitering laws criminalize “hanging out” for certain people in certain places. In addition to other policies and social norms, loitering laws privatize public space through the exclusion of others (Mitchell 2014). Where is the boundary between public and private space in Denver from a critical spatial perspective?
Figure 1. Fans walking to Coors Field crossing 20th Street. Obtained from CBS News (2026).
To understand what constitutes a public space, we need to explore what a public space is. In his novel on The Right to the City, Don Mitchell (2014) explores two common visions of public space held by most: (1) a space of social-political exchange or (2) an orderly space where the “appropriate” public can enjoy the city. The first vision is a less mediated, more chaotic space where different individuals can gather to discuss political and social ideas, while the latter is viewed as a space where private owners can enjoy leisure and entertainment (Mitchell 2014).
The sidewalk that runs along 20th Street from the Denver Skatepark to Coors Field is considered a public space, but the struggle between which opposing view is being held for this public space is constantly being challenged. As a past resident of this area, I’ve seen this sidewalk used for many different purposes, including transportation (by foot, bike, or scooter), shelter for unhoused populations, and a corridor for political marches and protests. The social and political presence, including the marches and unhoused peoples’ claim of the corridor, on this sidewalk supports the first vision of public space as a place of socio-political contestation. However, recent “clean-up” initiatives of this sidewalk (which have removed any trace of the unhoused population) support the second vision of public space, where exclusion occurs for the comfort of an “appropriate” population, in this case, the comfort of working-class Rockies fans on their way to the game.
Figure 2. Google Image views of the 20th Street Sidewalk from Little Raven Street to Wewatta Street in Denver, CO. Obtained from Google Maps (2024).
Who is welcome to use and enjoy public space is highly contested and socially constructed through the use of public space (Mitchell 2014). The exclusion of the unhoused population from the 20th Street sidewalk corridor exemplifies how the competing views of a public space lead to social (or material) privatization. In Allison Kafer’s (2016) article on the exclusion of disabled individuals from public bathrooms, both in the built and social environment of the bathroom, she describes that justifications of safety, comfort, and cleanliness are tools for exclusion of different “others.” Kafer describes the lengths people go to avoid the touch of the “other” by hovering over the toilet, using their feet to flush, and leaving toilet paper behind (Kafer, 2016). This leaves the bathroom useless to those without the same mobility (Kafer, 2016). Like Kafer’s public restroom example, the “clean-up” of unhoused encampments is often justified by claims of crime reduction and trash removal for the comfort of some of the public.
Not only is the exclusion of the unhoused from this area done through social and political initiatives, it is also reinforced through the built infrastructure in Denver. Benches with bars to prevent sleeping, noise-making machines to irritate lingering bodies, and the lack of shelter at transportation stops are easily visible along the streets of Denver. This hostile architecture discourages the homeless from using public spaces for activities deemed "socially" private, like sleeping. This exclusion begs the question: is public space truly public, welcoming all to engage in civil discourse in the public realm, or has public space become a site for injustice?
Figure 3. Example of hostile architecture in San Jose, California. The bench is divided in two to discourage someone from lying down. Obtained from FOX31 (2025).
Injustice on the sidewalks of Denver is both created and maintained on the very sidewalks that exist. Spatial injustice is two-pronged, as described by Edward Soja (2013), “the spatiality of injustice [focuses] on how injustice is embedded in space, [while] injustice of spatiality emphasizes how injustice is created and maintained through space” (p. 27). The socio-political actions and norms towards unhoused people in Denver create spaces where unhoused people are not welcome to participate in public spaces, and this injustice is maintained in the physical spaces they inhabit through “clean-up” initiatives and hostile architecture. Since public space is a place of political activity, when unhoused people are unwelcome or removed from public spaces, they are also removed from participating in society (Mitchell 2014). Therefore, the existence of unhoused people on 20th Street (or any other marginalized group) in public spaces is an act of resistance and a way for these groups “to argue for their rights as part of the active public - to make a claim for a right to the city” (Mitchell 2014, p. 133).
The boundary between private and public is an ongoing struggle and points to the political nature of public spaces. Whether a place is private or public depends on the complex social and spatial relationships of that space. Those relationships create and recreate spaces of injustice that can exclude groups of people, not only from public spaces, but from society. A spatial perspective is key to exploring the relationship between what is considered public and what is considered private, as well as how individuals argue for their right to exist in society by physically existing in a space. Despite “clean-up” initiatives, the unhoused populations continue to return to 20th Street and other public spaces throughout Denver to fight for spatial justice and their “right to the city.”
Taylor DuPree is a master's student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences (MS Environmental Science).