2nd Call for Papers
RETAIL AND THE
Apologies for cross-posting...
2nd Call for Papers
RETAIL AND THE CITY: THE URBAN GEOGRAPHIES OF RETAILING
Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers' Annual Conference, 26-28 August 2009, Manchester
Sponsored by the Economic Geography Research Group
**Abstract deadline day approaching: Wednesday 21st January 2009**
It
has been more than a decade since Wrigley and Lowe (1996) called for
the formation of a ‘new retail geography’. Following this call-to-arms,
economic geographers have brought attention to issues such as the
spatial switching of retail capital, the regulation of retail activity
and the role of institutional actors in the production of new retail
spaces. However, the majority of research within the ‘new retail
geography’ has focused mainly on the global and national scales of the
organisation of retail activity and overlooked the study of retail
activity at the urban scale, a field of study, which has for long been
associated with research within the positivist retail geography
paradigm.Concurrently, many urban geographers have shed light on the
changing aesthetics and regulation of downtowns and urban centres, the
contested nature of public space, the neoliberalisation of urban
politics, and the practices of urban regeneration and
gentrification. Despite the insights of each approach and the
connections between the two ‘sub-disciplines’, new retail geographers
and urban geographers rarely talk to each other. As a result, a
thorough understanding of urban retailing remains elusive. This session
provides a space for researchers from both sub-disciplines to come
together to discuss retailing in the city, empirically and
theoretically, with the hope of finding a constructive framework
through which urban retail geographies can be understood in future
research. Empirical and theoretical papers are welcome on the following
topics, with studies of Global North and Global South cities equally
valued:
· The spatial switching of retail capital in (and beyond) the urban landscape;
· The histories of retailing and retail development in the city;
·
The politics of urban retail development: Regulating, promoting,
participating in and protesting against retail development in the city;
· Urban competitiveness and retail investment;
· Retail-led regeneration and retail gentrification;
· Street vending and informal retailing in the city;
·
The regulation of outdoor and indoor commercial space (e.g. mall
management, Business Improvement Districts, Town Centre Management,
historical centre preservation schemes);
· The role of professionals (e.g. planners, consultants, architects and realtors) in shaping the urban retail landscape;
· The implications of the ‘credit crunch’ on urban retailing.
If you would like to present, please send a title and abstract (max. 200 words) to Ian R. Cook ([log in to unmask]) or Georgios Tzimas ([log in to unmask]) by Wednesday 21st January 2009.
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