Out of sight, out of mind: A comparative study of public bus terminals as civic spaces

•First trans-national comparison of bus terminals development.•Bus terminal as sign structures.•Bus terminal redevelopment as a measure of commodification. This is a trans-country investigation of the provision of bus terminals as sign structures that may affect their subjectivist recognition and hence design. In relation to real estate and commercial development, they are to be understood as socially significant civic spaces. The incorporation of public bus terminals into private developments can be used as a measure of the pressures occasioned by the commodification of land as ranked in terms of land values. This tends to put bus terminals out of sight and further diminish any public support for their conservation.