lifestyle consumption

LIFESTYLE CONSUMPTION

1. The act or process of consuming a way of life or style of living.

2. The phenomenon of ‘urban branding’ within the context of cities transforming from industrial cities towards cultural, shopping, fun and leisurely urban environments.

“Look No More Factories!’ – Leisure and event cities in the experience economy!

“Urban planners boldly state that ‘there is no such thing as an artificial experience’, which is a clear suggestion that the sky is the limit in terms of turning the city into ever new sites to be consumed. Part of such staging and ‘theming’ has to do with the transformation of leisure and fun into new dimensions of urban experience commodities such as visiting a museum or going to the mall. Short identifies two broad themes of US urban booster campaigns; the ‘city of work’ and the ‘city of play’ (Short 1999:41). As a part of the ‘culture shift’, cities now represent themselves as ‘fun places’ meaning places where the ‘good life’ not only is about employment but increasingly also about ample time for leisure (Short 1999:52).
Developers seek to assemble and sell all the commodities perceived as urban lifestyle essentials such as habits of consumption, dress, and recreation in a confined space. Put the other way around, a single development has broadened into a totality of urban cultural production.

Branding the Contemporary City : Urban branding as Regional Growth Agenda
Ole B. Jensen