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Apparantly both version are in use according to Google Books Ngram. However, the use of in public far more common than at public.

I wonder if saying at public is wrong or non-standart English even though it is in use.

For example :

Smoking in/at public should be forbidden.

Google Books Ngram

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  • I have never come across at public unless it's used as an adjective, as in: at public libraries/schools etc
    – Ronald Sole
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 1:14
  • Beyond the Ngram, you should search for some actual examples using the phrase, and add to your question. An Ngram by itself does not consider context.
    – user3169
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 1:23

2 Answers 2

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I don't suppose you clicked on the links below the ngram that show the actual hits?

If you peruse the found instances, you can see that "at public" is used when public functions as an adjective, in phrases like public schools, public meetings, or public parks.

So, you would not say:

Smoking at public should be forbidden.

but you might say:

Smoking at public events should be forbidden.

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  • 1
    When I google the phrase "smoking at public places" verbatim (in quotation marks), I (mostly) get results from authors/websites related to India, Pakistan, and some African countries — the dialects of which I'm not accustomed to, as it were. "Smoking in public places" yields more results and, not least, they're in Englishes I was taught to regard as standard. Would "in" be your choice of preposition as well?
    – user3395
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 1:59
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    "Smoking in public" is the common idiom, or sometimes "Smoking in public spaces". J.R. is correct that "at public events" is fine, but I think this is because the preferred idiom is "at events" or "at an event". It doesn't matter if they are public or private. Ex: You would say "smoking in a public park", because you would otherwise say "in the park".
    – Andrew
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 5:28
  • @Andrew I concede that the spaces version sounds even better, but Google Ngrams Viewer shows significantly more hits for the places one, for some reason.
    – user3395
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 12:13
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    @user2684291 "Public places" is fine too. I think my mind got fixed on "spaces" because that's what we've been talking about. In any case my point is that the preposition matches the noun ("in places") and not the adjective "public".
    – Andrew
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 15:59
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The usual term is

Smoking in public.

when one is surrounded by the public.

Conceivably,

smoking at the public

might be aggressively blowing second-hand smoke at passersby similar to "shooting at the public", but the action would still be "in public".

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