Spaces for Consumption: Pleasure and Placelessness in the Post-Industrial City
Author(s): Steven Miles (Author)
Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
Publication Date: 13 Sept. 2010
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 216 pages
ISBN-10: 1412946662
ISBN-13: 9781412946667
Book Description
In Spaces for Consumption Steven Miles develops a penetrating critique of a key shift characterising the contemporary city. Theoretically informed, the other strength of the volume lies in the wealth of examples that are drawn upon to show how cities are becoming spaces for consumption, which has itself rapidly become a global phenomenon.” – Ronan Paddison, University of Glasgow
“This is a great book. Powerfully written and lucid, it provides a thorough introduction to concepts of consumption as they relate to the spaces of cities. The spaces themselves – the airports, the shopping malls, the museums and cultural quarters – are analysed in marvellous detail, and with a keen sense of historical precedent. And, refreshingly, Miles doesn′t simply dismiss cultures of consumption out of hand, but shows how as consumers we are complicit in, and help define those cultures. His book makes a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary cities, but is accessible enough to appeal to any reader with an interest in this important area.”
– Richard Williams, Edinburgh University
Spaces for Consumption
offers an in-depth and sophisticated analysis of the processes that underpin the commodification of the city and explains the physical manifestation of consumerism as a way of life.
Engaging directly with the social, economic and cultural processes that have resulted in our cities being defined through consumption this vibrant book clearly demonstrates the ways in which consumption has come to play a key role in the re-invention of the post-industrial city
The book provides a critical understanding of how consumption redefines the consumers′ relationship to place using empirical examples and case studies to bring the issues to life. It discusses many of the key spaces and arenas in which this redefinition occurs including:
shopping
themed space
mega-events
architecture
Developing the notion of ′contrived communality′ Steven Miles outlines the ways in which consumption, alongside the emergence of an increasingly individualized society, constructs a new kind of relationship with the public realm.
Clear, sophisticated and dynamic this book will be essential reading for students and researchers alike in sociology, human geography, architecture, planning, marketing, leisure and tourism, cultural studies and urban studies.
Editorial Reviews
Review
In Spaces for Consumption Steven Miles develops a penetrating critique of a key shift characterising the contemporary city. Theoretically informed, the other strength of the volume lies in the wealth of examples that are drawn upon to show how cities are becoming spaces for consumption, which has itself rapidly become a global phenomenon. — Ronan Paddison
This is a great book. Powerfully written and lucid, it provides a thorough introduction to concepts of consumption as they relate to the spaces of cities. The spaces themselves – the airports, the shopping malls, the museums and cultural quarters – are analysed in marvellous detail, and with a keen sense of historical precedent. And, refreshingly, Miles doesn′t simply dismiss cultures of consumption out of hand, but shows how as consumers we are complicit in, and help define those cultures. His book makes a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary cities, but is accessible enough to appeal to any reader with an interest in this important area. — Richard Williams
Challenges the accepted idea that post-industrial cities should be flagships of consumer culture. Through a wide-ranging survey of the literature, Miles shows that shopping malls, art museums, and spectacular festivals really create a less authentic experience of urban life. — Sharon Zukin
Spaces for Consumption is a very important book, and perhaps the most instructive English book in urban studies published in the last five years. Its theoretical framework is rich and diversified; many quotes borrowed from other publications (either in cultural geography, urban studies, cultural studies, or sociology) are almost like little treasures because of their diversity and usefulness. Spaces and Consumption is the kind of book that puts names and concepts behind ideas and trends. — Yves Laberge
From the Back Cover
An engaging exploration of the social, economic and cultural processes that have resulted in our cities being defined through consumption.
About the Author
Steve joined Brighton from the University of Liverpool where he was part of the management group of Impacts 08, the research programme designed to assess the social, cultural and economic impacts of European Capital of Culture. Perhaps the most bizarre experience of his academic career was presenting the proposal for Impacts 08 to a panel chaired by Loyd Grossman.
Steve previously worked at Northumbria University where he was Head of Research for the Centre for Cultural Policy and Management and where he conducted a large-scale research project into the impact of cultural investment on Newcastle Gateshead Quayside. Many years previously Steve undertook his PhD in the Behavioural Sciences Department at the University of Huddersfield in which he was concerned with the relationship between consumption and identity amongst young people.
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