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London Is Selling Off Its Public Spaces?! — Who Owns the City? Agenda 2020

246 views · Published 8 June 2016 · 2:43 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: Mike Martins · 2016 · News & Politics

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Hey guys, Mike Martins here with the Mike Martins Channel.

I was watching a report this morning about something happening in London that really caught my attention: public-looking spaces increasingly being privately owned and controlled.

These are places where people walk, sit down, meet friends, spend time with their families and generally assume they're standing in a normal public area.

But what happens when the land underneath those spaces is actually privately owned?

The report showed journalists attempting to film in areas that appeared completely public, only to have private security approach them and tell them they couldn't film there.

That immediately raises some questions.

If an area looks like a public square and thousands of people use it every day, what rights do people actually have when they're standing there?

Can you film?

Can you demonstrate or protest?

Can private security order you to leave?

And what happens if more and more of a city's gathering spaces eventually fall under private ownership?

I'm not saying I know exactly where this is heading. I'm asking the question because I think public space is an important part of any city.

Parks, squares and gathering places give ordinary people somewhere to exist without necessarily having to buy something or ask permission from a corporation.

There's obviously another side to the argument. Private development can pay for construction, maintenance, security, washrooms and improvements that governments might otherwise have to fund.

But there needs to be a discussion about what happens when something looks public but legally isn't completely public.

Could we eventually reach a point where corporations control significant portions of the places where people traditionally gather?

Take a look into this yourselves and let me know what you think.

Thanks for watching, and don't forget to subscribe.

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