Public Space vs. Private Space

As today's world becomes increasingly globalized, we ironically became a more isolated society. Some argue that we should make space more accessible to the general public because boundaries are becoming less and less distinct. International boundaries have certainly become permeable; we need to look only at the United State's southern border to see that many immigrants and "different" people continue to occupy American space. Even colleges are now taking their boundaries down as they allow for more diversity. Students of different racial, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds mingle throughout various universities.
On the other hand, some believe that we should not make more public spaces. Instead, we should make more private spaces because people are willing to pay money to express their own individuality through space. If we think about it, our society has become very self-centered with new technologies like iPods and portable computers. We see more and more people in public who compltelely isolate themselves from the rest by plugging in their headphones or by becoming comsumed by a text message screen. Retailers and companies take advantage of our self-centered state to advertise costly items--and even large-scale items like real estate-- that can potentially become our own and no one else's.