Rhetoricizing the Urban: Finding a Living Public in Public Plaza

The city is a complex and nuanced collection of symbols, actions, interactions, and meanings rife for analysis at any given moment. Rhetorical scholarship adds unique insights into how such meanings are constructed, interpreted, and enacted. Much of the foundational research in the field of communication traces back to McGee\u27s1 disciplinary transition from rhetorical materialism to rhetoric\u27s materiality. 2 As Biesecker and Lucaites point out, this critical discussion has led to understanding rhetorical objects as on a continuum of rhetorical influence that extend from the most concrete incidence of microrhetorical experience to increasingly abstract socio- and macro-rhetorical experiences .3 It is my contention that by highlighting the interconnectedness of conceptual and material experiences in everyday life, it is possible to engage in a more complex discussion of public place and/or space as both experienced objects of meaning and sites alive with meaning-making