Condemning the public: Design and New York's new 42nd street

This paper examines the redevelopment of Times Square in New York City and brings together two discourses, the discourse of design and the discourse of eminent domain case law. I argue that both were inextricable parts of the Times Square redevelopment process and served similar functions: defining a public for The New Times Square. By determining what was 'in the public interest', eminent domain case law set out two opposing publics: the criminal Times Square public and an idealized general public. By selectively editing the Times Square public's desires and behaviors, design helped define and represent new moral norms.