The intensification of surveillance by both state actors and platform actors leads to a social homogenisation that makes the protection of public space and the right to the city essential. Gilles Deleuze‘s analysis of the society of control highlights the emergence of decentralised control systems and the manipulation of information that undermines individual autonomy and agency. According to Hannah Arendt, public space is an important antidote to the
isolation and alienation that arise in the private sphere, and in the process becomes a bulwark against the erosion of democratic societies and individual freedoms.
To combat the impact of surveillance on public space and the right to the city, a counter-system of so-called „spaces of freedom“ may be essential.
These spaces offer individuals the opportunity to exercise their autonomy and agency outside of the systems of control that dominate contemporary society.
By creating spaces of freedom, public spaces can regain their power and provide citizens with the means to resist the homogenization of society and protect their democratic values and freedoms.
Ultimately, this promise claims to give back the power to the people.