Matthew Reilly and Altha Cravey (Faculty Advisor). Funded by the National Science Foundation, the research suggested some of the ways in which contemporary social theory can contribute to the re-conceptualization of Havana’s urban landscape and its current transformation. After decades of benign neglect, a consequence of the Revolutionary government’s anti-urban development policies, the urban landscape of Havana is being transformed as the government, in cooperation with foreign corporations, and newly formed quasi-private entrepreneurial Cuban companies, NGOs, and local participatory planning groups, are re-investing (materially and symbolically) in the built environment and public spaces of the city. Cuba is undergoing a period of tremendous instability and transition as it occupies a contested hybrid space between capitalism and socialism. Understanding how public space has been and will be created can provide tremendous insight into the future of Havana’s urban landscape and its political future. This project examined the discursive construction of public space in Old Havana (the colonial core of the city), focusing on both the historical modes and methods by which public space has been structured and produced since the founding of the Cuban Republic in 1902 to present, and the contemporary debated surrounding its current reordering and restructuring.