The Dictionary of Human Geography

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concern with how thestate apparatuspro-

duces and can then address spatial inequality

through its finance functions remains an area

of interest of geographers, Bennett (1985) has

argued that equity in the distribution of public

goods is autopia. As such, the state should

reduce its provision of public goods and ser-

vices – and the role of the private and of the

third sector should be increased, perhaps

through public–private partnerships

(Pinch, 1997). kwa

Suggested reading

Bennett (1990); Pinch (1997).

public geographies Contributions to geo-

graphical knowledge that address audiences

beyond the academy and seek to intervene in

public debate andpublic policy. The formal

discipline ofgeographyhas a long tradition of

‘applied’ or ‘policy relevant’ work (seeapplied

geography;relevance), but the recent inter-

est in public geographies has been nurtured by

a renewed interest in thenormative– in the

political andethicaldimensions of geograph-

ical enquiry – and by two further, more par-

ticular, considerations. First, there has been a

recognition that geographical knowledge is

produced at multiple sites inside and outside

the academy, and the interest in ‘public geog-

raphies’ is thus, in part, an attempt to acknow-

ledge the importance of those other

productions and sites. This means more than

an interest in ‘popular geographies’. While

many geographical knowledges remain

undeveloped, and are often tacit and taken-

for-granted, other non-academic contribu-

tions are highly developed and explicit about

their intellectual and substantive basis: see, for

example, the regional reports produced by the

International Crisis Group, at http://www.

crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm. Second, there

has been a recognition of the importance of

developing and engaging audiences outside

the academy, and the interest in ‘public geog-

raphies’ is thus also, in part, an attempt to

speak in less technical vocabularies and to take

advantage of non-academic publishing and the

development of new media (particularly the

internet) to intervene in current debates in

a timely and accessible fashion. These twin

rationales speak to an interest in both the

changing geography of the public sphere (see

private and public spheres) and the critical

participation of geographical knowledges in its

affairs (Gregory, 2005b), and they intersect

with a renewed interest in ‘public intellectuals’

(Castree, 2006b; Ward, 2007). Oslender

(2007) adds a crucial rider: a focus less on

public intellectuals as ‘super-stars’ illuminat-

ing the public sphere and more on the collab-

orative contributions of what he calls ‘the

collective intellectual’ is likely to produce a

genuinely public geography that is both more

effective and more democratic. There have

been parallel developments in other fields –

public anthropology, public history and public

sociology, for example – but some of the most

impressive have been interdisciplinary: see,

for example, the international forums on

‘public issues’ published by the US-based

Social Science Research Council at http://

publications.ssrc.org/essays/.

Public geographies have their own geog-

raphies: Ward (2006) insists on the continuing

importance of the academy as one public

among many – and hence on the importance

ofeducationand pedagogy – and it is as well

to remember (as the example of the SSRC

shows) that the academy and those other pub-

lics are increasingly transnational in their com-

position and concerns. In this sense, perhaps,

public geographies can contribute to the

deconstruction of the myth of the ‘ivory tower’

• universities are enmeshed in wider webs of
  political, social and economic practices –and
  also capitalize on the partialities ofsituated
  knowledgeto articulate new collaborations,
  develop new conversations and forge new alli-
  ances (cf. the People’s Geography Project at
  http://www.peoplesgeographyproject.org/).dg.dg)

Suggested reading

Oslender (2008); Ward (2007).

public goods Goods and services that are

either freely available to all or provided equally

to citizens of a delimitedterritory. Public

goods are normally always provided by the

stateand fall within three main categories

(Bennett, 1980, 1985). First,pure public goods

are those that are non-excludable and non-

rival in consumption. One person’s consump-

tion does not restrict another person’s. These

goods are freely available to all people through

a state’s territory. An example is national

defence. However, we can also think of global

public goods. The eradication of smallpox, for

example, would benefit all of humanity, now

and in the future. While all public goods

should fall within this category, they do not.

It is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to

ensure the equal provision of public goods. A

second type isimpure public goods, which are

provided at fixed locations or along fixed

routes. A park is a public good, and so is a

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PUBLIC GOODS