John Urry's "Consuming Places," discusses what Urry terms the "makings of place"--that is, distinctive features of different places which make them either attractive or repellant to consumers, whether visitors or investors. Urry also explores the effects of consumption on these places and their respective local populations.
Urry has been discussing and writing on these and similar issues for the past fifteen years. In "Consuming Places" he gathers together his most significant contributions. Urry begins with an extensive review of the connections between society, time and space, and examines such themes as locality, ruralism, and economic restructuring in relationship to place. The text considers how the development of service occupations and industries have transformed places through the emergence of a post-industrial service class. Urry then directs our attention to the nature of consumption in terms of its implications for place and people, citing natural and environmental concerns and the tensions between commodification and collective enthusiasms.
This wide-ranging book will prove indispensable for enthusiasts of geography, sociology, and urban, regional and cultural studies.