Aspects of Security in Correlation Between the Use of Public, Urban, and Virtual Spaces

Abstract

For public space to be adequately used and considered to be for the good of all citizens, it must not be privatized, and it is desirable for it to be safe. Tertiary activities have taken primacy by introducing the concepts of consumer society, the information age, and globalization, while the context and phenomenon of public urban space has found its parallel counterpart in cyberspace. The virtual world has offered new spaces for meetings and socializing, relieved of the limitations imposed by space and time and enriched with numerous possibilities and benefits. It has become a new reality, more important than the physical environment. The authors draw a parallel between public urban spaces and virtual reality, focusing on the aspects of safety of use, as an important factor in the quality of life. The problem of how to provide the desired level of security, without encroaching on privacy and personal freedom, without conducting surveillance, and without imposing exclusivity, remains the same, and even in the virtual world, it is becoming more pronounced.