Public consumption: a private enterprise?

• Main Author: Joanne Massey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Société Royale Belge de Géographie and the Belgian National Committee of Geography 2003-03-01
• Series: Belgeo
• Subjects: privatisation; public space; consumption; gentrification
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/belgeo/15305
• ISSN: 1377-2368; 2294-9135

This paper aims to trace the historical development of consumption activities in the city. The example of Manchester, England will be used to provide a retrospective view on the shift from industrial to post-industrial city. It will be argued that consumption has always played a role in the way that urban space is ordered, though this has not always been as significant as in the post-industrial era. This paper will also give evidence of the way in which consumption sites are increasingly “privatised” or “commercialised” in the sense that those using that space have to negotiate access (usually via economic capital). In this way they become exclusive areas, designed with a particular group in mind, usually young, affluent professionals. How such processes of exclusivity are shaped by and relate to local politics will also be explored, in order to establish who the powerful groups are and how they construct the city.