American public space, rebooted: What might it feel like?

And the American people returned to the American streets, bit by bit, place by place. And in the spaces they shared, they found a world that appeared much the same but was, in many ways, different — and changing by the day.

And the people were at turns uncertain, fearful, angry, determined. As they looked to their institutions to set the tone, they wondered: What would this new world be like?

The choppy re-engagement of Americans with public life over the past week, with more to come as cries to “reopen the country” grow, means a return to a shared realm where institutions of all types form the shape of American life.

Yet can you reopen a society — particularly a republic built on openness and public interaction — without its physical institutions at full capacity, without public spaces available for congregation?

“Humans are just terrified of other humans right now. They just don’t feel confident about each other,” says Daniel Cusick, a New York architect who has worked on public spaces for three decades. “But people need a structure. They need to be told there’s something greater.”

Enter the “institution,” a word with multiple personalities — some truly public, some partially public, some purely commercial. All figure in this mid-virus re-engagement. All are part of the web of public trust, and all have a tone to set.

“Institution” means government buildings — post offices and courthouses and DMVs. It means town squares and public parks, churches and nursing homes and college campuses and, of course, hospitals.

It can also mean skyscraper lobbies, shopping malls, hotels, big-box stores and supermarkets — the touch points of a consumer society whose open, public operation means a society is edging toward normal.

Eric Martin, a...