Helen Tangires examines the role of the public marketplace - social and architectural - as a key site in the development of civic culture in America. More than simply places for buying and selling food, Tangires explains, municipally owned andMoreHelen Tangires examines the role of the public marketplace - social and architectural - as a key site in the development of civic culture in America. More than simply places for buying and selling food, Tangires explains, municipally owned and operated markets were the common ground where citizens and government struggled to define the shared values of the community.
Public markets were vital to civic policy and reflected the profound belief in the moral economy - the effort on the part of the municipality to maintain the social and political health of its community by regulating the ethics of trade in the urban marketplace for food.