A comprehensive analysis of urban retail and consumption transformations across diverse global and under-represented contexts
In an era defined by rapid urbanization, technological innovation, and shifting consumption patterns, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the City, Retail and Consumption is an essential reference for scholars and practitioners alike. Thirty-four chapters by an international panel of experts address the critical need for a comprehensive, global perspective on the evolving relationship between urban life, retail formats, and consumption practices. The contributing authors trace the transformative impact of post-industrial and post-pandemic contexts on consumption districts, shopping malls, and public squares while highlighting the social, cultural, and environmental factors that underpin contemporary retail landscapes.
Moving beyond descriptive analysis, the Companion delves into the digitalization of urban retail and its ramifications for consumer behavior and placemaking. It examines omnichannel strategies, platform economies, and emerging phygital experiences that redefine how city dwellers shop, as well as the governance models shaping the future of shopping districts worldwide. The volume incorporates under represented regions from Asia, Latin America, and beyond—ensuring readers gain a truly inclusive understanding of urban retail dynamics.
A foundational text that illuminates current debates and charts promising avenues for future research, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the City, Retail and Consumption:
Presents an interdisciplinary framework combining geography, architecture, sociology, marketing, and urban planning perspectives Analyzes the digitalization of retail, including omnichannel strategies, platform economies, and phygital experiences Explores evolving consumption practices through the lenses of class, gender, ethnicity, and sensory experience Investigates novel governance models for urban shopping districts and their policy implications Integrates cutting-edge methods and detailed case studies to inform both scholarship and practice
Balancing theoretical rigor with practical insights, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the City, Retail and Consumption is indispensable for advanced undergraduates, postgraduate students, and researchers in geography, architecture, urbanism, marketing, management, and sociology. It is an ideal textbook for Urban Geography, Retail Geography, Sociology of Consumption, and Sustainable Urban Design courses and serves as an invaluable reference for urban planners, retail consultants, and policy advisors.
1 Introduction Daniel Paiva, Pedro Guimarães PART 1. NEW READINGS ON CONTEMPORARY RETAIL LANDSCAPES. 2 The Recent Transformation of Central Squares: On the interrelation between retail, recreation and mobility Mattias Kärrholm 3 Towards a research agenda for high street atmospheres Chloe Steadman 4 Eventification and Urban Branding Waldemar Cudny 5 Reinventing Shanghai’s Shopping Centres in the Post-Covid Digital Era: A Tale of Creative Destruction Fujie Rao, Weiting Qin, Yiwen Liu 6 Consuming heritage' in Tianjin's former international concessions: Leisure, tourism, and experiential shopping, between the local and the global Maria GravariBarbas, Chensi Shen, Yue Lu, Sandra Guinand 7 Retail Ruins, Revisited Jacob C. Miller 8 Key actors and factors in the evolution and diversification of shopping malls in Mexico City José Gasca Zamora 9 The production of space and sociospatial fragmentation of consumption places Cláudio Smalley Soares Pereira PART 2. NEW PERSPECTIVES ON CHANGING CONSUMPTION PRACTICES. 10 Urban consumption, inequality and social conflict Daniel Paiva 11 Retail, consumption, and gender Liliana de Simone 12 Ethnic Retail Clusters in Helsinki: From Ethnification of Poverty to Socio-Economic Resilience Hossam Hewidy, Johanna Lilius 13 Beyond Bricks and Mortar: The Evolving Neighbourhood Commercial Landscape in Toronto Zhixi Cecilia Zhuang 14 Consuming an Urban Experience – Contemporary Applications of Pedestrianization and Public Space Kelly Gregg 15 Consumption and urban emotions in a changing climate Marcia Alves Soares da Silva, Diogo Marcelo Delben Ferreira de Lima 16 From No-Go to Must-See: Squatting, Touristification, and Fragile Atmospheres in Ljubljana Sandi Abram, Nathan Siegrist 17 Indulgent sounds. Listening to sonic strategies to foster consumption within entertainment neighborhoods Nicola Di Croce 18 Commensality, consumption and conviviality: Foodification and urban transformation in Funchal Carlos Diogo Gomes PART 3. THE DIGITALIZATION OF URBAN RETAIL AND CONSUMPTION. 19 Digital platforms and retail digitalization Sina Hardaker, Han Chu 20 The impact of prosumers on the platform economy Daniela Ferreira 21 Transformations in retail in the Digital Age: Dark Stores, Brick-and-Mortar Retailers, and Emerging Logistics Dynamic Pedro Guimarães, Nuno Rodrigues 22 Brick-and-mortar and e-commerce: places, links, and consumer perspectives Julie Horáková, Outi Uusitalo 23 Perception and consumption of extended reality (XR) content in urban spaces Maciej Główczyński 24 Consuming Place through Location-Based Games Jack Lowe 25 Phygitalisation: The New Frontier of Neighbourhood Retail in the Omnichannel Era Herculano Cachinho PART 4. THE GOVERNANCE OF URBAN CONSUMPTION SPACES. 26 Retailing and Place Management Gary Warnaby, Steve Millington 27 Retail Policies in Southern European Context Libera D’Alessandro, Rosario Sommella 28 Leaving the city, embracing the nation-state: Rethinking ‘urban’ policy mobilities through the example of business improvement districts Diogo Gaspar Silva, Kevin Ward 29 Food Retailing and Consumption in Urban Areas Leigh Sparks 30 Retail capital and urban tourism consumption in Mexico Patricia Olivera 31 Superblock Barcelona: implications for the city retail structure Lluís Frago, Alejandro Morcuende 32 Complexity in Governance of Commercial City Centres Göktuğ Morçöl, Michele Tantardini, Arifur Rahman Bhuiyan 33 Afterword: The Death of the Urban Marketplace? Sharon Zukin 34 Afterword Teresa Barata-Salgueiro Index
DANIEL PAIVA is a Researcher at the Centre of Geographical Studies, University of Lisbon, and Coordinator of ZOE – Urban and Regional Changes and Policies Research Group. His work on affective urbanism in consumption, tourism, and leisure has appeared in leading international journals. He is the author of Affective Urbanism and co-editor of Ambiance, Tourism and the City. PEDRO GUIMARÃES is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon, and Coordinator of the ZOE Research Group. His research on urban and retail studies includes more than three dozen indexed publications and leadership in the GreenCCircuit project. He received the 2021 Lisbon University Scientific Prize in Geography and Territory.
