Just Gardens? On the Struggle for Space and Spatial Justice

Abstract

This article discusses the public park as a garden of justice: at once a concrete, geographical place and a more intangible space constituted by struggles between different spatial definitions. The case of the article is Ørstedsparken, a public park in the centre of Copenhagen which is a wellknown homosexual cruising site. In recent years, the municipality has cut down vegetation in the park in order to regulate and/or prevent cruising. The article proposes that this targeting of homosexual cruising in the park may be a surrogate way to impose heteronormativity upon those who fall outside of this norm. It is further suggested that exposing the men who retreat to public parks to have sex may be a way to reduce the insecurity which, according to the writings on spatial justice by Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, comes with the transient nature of space.