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In this paper I attempt to develop a comprehensive, robust model of urban morphology from a phenomenological and behavioral perspective. I do so by comparing the findings of two extensive empirical studies of users' experiences of urban public space: one primarily examining people's perceptions in relation to the practical task of wayfinding, and the other my own research into people's playful behavior in Melbourne, London, Berlin, and New York. Lynch himself called attention to “our delight … in ambiguity, mystery … surprise and disorder”, but little is known about what role specific spatial conditions might have in framing such experiences, or indeed about the diversity of impractical activities people actually pursue in urban spaces. With this paper I seek to fill these gaps. Three elements common to both studies (paths, nodes, and edges) describe the fundamental topological structure of space in relation to movement and visibility. I focus on the four spatial elements which differ between the two models (landmarks, districts, thresholds, and props). Field observations illustrate ways in which the latter two spatial elements frame particular noninstrumental, ‘playful’ experiences which are characteristic of the urban condition: spontaneous encounters with strangers; unfamiliar and risky bodily experiences; distraction, and interpreting new meanings in the urban fabric.

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The urban riverfront of Melbourne, Australia, has been transformed over the past 20 years into a popular leisure precinct known as Southbank. This is a postmodern landscape of contrived spectacle, where playful urban life is simulated, choreographed and consumed. Yet it is also the site of many forms of unplanned and unstructured activity. This paper explores the complex uses and meanings which can develop around such a waterfront, and outlines three dialectics which reveal how many new kinds of public life emerge within it. New tensions between global and local, politics and play, representation and embodied action lead to a rethinking of both formularized waterfronts and urban design theories.

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This article investigates the ways in which cultural economy is formed through negotiation and interaction between local actors in the case of culture‐led regeneration in Gwangju, South Korea. It looks at the dynamics between the bureaucrats' pursuit of economic growth in the city and the efforts of civil society to maintain a strong political spirit throughout the regeneration process. Through in‐depth interviews with various participants and archival analysis, the politics of cultural economy are examined in relation to the Gwangju Biennale and the City of Culture project. The findings show that in these two cases bureaucrats were the dominant force, a tendency that instrumentalized culture. They also illustrate that this dominance brought about resistance from civil society. However, in the process of both engaging in conflict and working with each other, the different discourses of economic growth and cultural meaning were integrated, and in the process mutual learning and adaptation took place among members of the two groups. Civil society also faced cleavages resulting from different approaches to how to collaborate with the bureaucrats and its ensuing self‐reflection on communicative value enhanced its rehabilitation. The article argues that the politics of cultural economy is dynamic, involving processes of renegotiation, adaptation and self‐realization. It also offers the possibility of a new arena for the public sphere. Civil society plays a critical role in the integration of culture and economy.