5 - Historical consumption Flashcards
Spaces of consumption appeal
Emotional appeal - the sense that it fosters community, despite not fully doing so
Ancient olympic games
Part of religious festival - Panhellenic Games
Artists and artisans valued as highly as physical prowess
United Greece in peace for duration of festival
* Courts, government and buisnesses paused operation - prisoners would be released
Ancient markets,
Rome, Mexico
Rome - Tajan’s Forum 100-112
Arched market area, shops + offices arranged over six gallery levels
Integration of consumer + community behaviour
Mexico - Tlatelolco
60K people, open markets
High social and community function
Mobile theatre
10-16th century Europe
Pagent wagons, performed plays originating from the medieval catholic church
Commedia dell’arte 16th-18th century
Industrial revolution - consequences on consumer behaviour
Incited overconsumption by the working class
Mechanisation of the production of increasingly every-day and non-essential items
Leading to increased living standards
Reduction of time spent working after labour strikes - 72-56HRS, greater demand for recreational entertainment
Parks as recreation
Ancient Persia - site of earliest known parks
Originally class-based - hunting grounds + enclosed sanctuaries as part of estates
Industrialisation - expansion of cities seeded the importance of greenspace and ‘rational recreation’
= public parks that were (mostly) acessible to all
Palais Garnier Opera House, Paris
Built 1875
Can represent the commodification, objectification + consumption of femininity and the female body
Male-dominated spaces
Heightened class divide in seating
3 key contemporary retail types
Main street - pedestrain street, separated by roads + under public control
Suburban mall - large ‘big-box’ stores at the ends of an arcade, surrounded by carparks and separated from city, privately controlled
Power centre - cluster of big-box stores around a carpark, encourages people to drive to each store directly
Shopping mall (US) origin
Designed by Austrian-American architect Victor Gruen in 1956
As a re-creation of a European town centre
Pedestrain use, with cars and transport on the perimeter
By the 1980’s there were over 25K large complexes in
Prolific and rapidly built - integrated into cultural fabric very quickly as symbols of success and opportunity for American towns
US Shopping malls - 2000-2010
Department store shopping replaced with:
* less expensive retailers, often in power centres
* catalogue and TV shopping
* online shopping
+ 2008 recession
Created ‘dead malls’
Retail centres - contemporary approach and relevance
Prioritising sustainability, accessibility, diversity and ‘lively ambiance’
Not only serving commercial purposes, but also contributing to the local community Should involve collaboration across disciplines to create holistic solutions to urban and spatial problems
Spaces should contribute to the well-being of visitors and be flexible to the dynamic landscape of retail
Early modern olympics
1896 - The Panathenaic Stadium (all marble, built 330BC) hosted the revived olympics
Early editions had limited effects on its host cities
Modern olympics, 1936
Berlin Olympic Stadium
Showcase of superiority and domination (scale, historic Greek spatial references)
Contemporary Olympics - legacy
Presents itself as all, and as part of society + as an instrument of unification
Argued that the “unification it achieves is nothing but an official language of generalised separation”
Debord, 1967
The construction and planning opportunities created by the Olympics often benefit foreigners and the very wealthy, and not the majority of host country’s citizens.
+ Infrastructure is not frequently re-used, and million-dollar stadiums are left abandoned, unused, or demolished entirely.
(Rio, 2016 / Athens, 2004 / Beijing, 2008 )
Some re-use:
Melbourne 1956 - reuse of stadiums and exhibition centres as civic spaces
