Mere potential presence of unknown persons defines public space as the world of strangers.

Evidence

I have said that the city’s public space is the locus of the world of strangers. This remains true whether a given portion of public space is at a given time either actually or potentially populated by persons who are personally unknown to one another. If I walk outside the door of my house and stand on the sidewalk, I may see no one except two or three friends and neighbors. Nonetheless, I have still entered the world of strangers. At any moment someone I do not know may appear. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 122

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what counts as having entered the world of strangers — potentiality, not actual occupied population.