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Public peering takes place at a public peering point, commonly known as an Internet Exchange Point (IXP).
Public peering is how network operators scale private peering - a large number of private interconnects with different network operators starts becoming expensive and more challenging to manage. So rather than having many private interconnects with other operators, it is more cost effective, and operationally straightforward, to connect to a public interconnect where all operators meet, and peer with all of them there.
This may seem counter-intuitive when commercial network operators all compete with each other, but each competitor knows that they improve their cost and quality of operation by interconnecting with their competitors.
As a newcomer network operator is scaling their operations, it becomes high priority for them to participate in their local Internet Exchange Point.