Consuming Cities [Paperback]

Contemporary urban consumption touches the everyday lives of most citizens and permeates discussion of society and culture today. Consuming Cities looks at this topic from perspectives in both sociology and cultural theory, drawing together references from mainstream and also less obvious sources in both literatures. Each chapter includes a specific case of a city or aspect of consumption, ranging from a history of urban consumption, gambling to the consumption of culture and its place in tourism to the consumption palace of the cruise liner. This definitive and accessible book will be an invaluable resource to a wide range of students.Contemporary urban consumption touches the everyday lives of most citizens and permeates discussion of society and culture today. Consuming Cities looks at this topic from perspectives in both sociology and cultural theory, drawing together references from mainstream and also less obvious sources in both literatures. Each chapter includes a specific case of a city or aspect of consumption, ranging from a history of urban consumption, gambling to the consumption of culture and its place in tourism to the consumption palace of the cruise liner. This definitive and accessible book will be an invaluable resource to a wide range of students.

Provide or Divide?.- Consuming the Past: Cities, Shopping and Supermarkets.- Consuming Cultures: The Symbolic Economies of Cities.- Consuming Place: Cities and Cultural Tourism.- Consuming Space: The Architectures of Consumption.- Consuming Chance: The Gambling City.- Reinventing the Consuming City.- Alternative Consumption.- Conclusion: The 'Consumed' City.- Further Reading.- References.

MALCOLM MILES is Reader in Cultural Theory in the School of Art and Design at the University of Plymouth. He is author of Art, Space and the City (Routledge, 1997) and The Uses of Decoration: Essays in the Architectural l#O