Utopia salon space center8/14/2023 ![]() Any goods that may be seen as a little out of the ordinary, including craft items and luxuries are given precedence (Reekie, 1992). These environments encourage browsing, with few necessities available to purchase. Festive markets are often located in historic structures such as railroad terminals, warehouses and industrial buildings that have fallen into disuse (Robertson, 1995). Drawing on this work by Marin (1984) the research seeks to offer fresh insights into the spaces that contribute to the consumer experience in the context of retailing environments by exploring a type of shopping centre known as a festival marketplace. It considers his theoretical reflections on utopic signifying practices and notion of 'spatial play' (Les Utopics) which have revitalised a body of literature that has frequently been denigrated and dismissed in terms of any relevant contribution to twentieth century thought. In pursuit of this utopian consumption analogy, then, this study introduces the work of French philospher, Louis Marin, one of utopia's most original thinkers and a major contributor to the nature and functioning of the utopian imagination (Hill, 1989). These references to utopia, however, have only made colloquial use of the term and, so far, there has been no theorisation around the concept in relation to consumption. Retail environments have responded to this experiential quality of consumer behaviour by developing ever more sophisticated and fantastic shopping locations which encourage leisure and browsing (Maynard and Milligen, 1995 McCloud, 1989) and the utopian qualities of such environments have been noted by many (Goss, 1993 Langman, 1992 Crawford, 1992 Chaney, 1990 Kowinski, 1985). ![]() A purchase may frequently be less important than the overall experience, with the desire for, rather than the actual purchase of goods, often serving as a bridge to displaced hopes and ideals (Belk, 1996 McCracken, 1988), and with the joys of longing often rivalling those of actual gratification. ![]() Campbell (1987) has shown that consumption is as much a matter of emotion and feeling as rational behaviour. Indeed, unlocking the imagination is now increasingly recognised as playing a crucial role in exploring marketing phenomenon, such as experiential and hedonic consumption (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982). Advertising creatives have responded to this 'human propensity' (Manuel and Manuel, 1979) by frequently portraying idealised vistas to which their target audience may aspire through consumption of a particular product or service, indulging consumers' aspirations for both literal and imaginative ideal states. They have ranged from the idealisation of times past, such as the Golden Age or the idea of the noble savage, to times future, with perfection to be found in other-worldly regions or distant planets (Kumar, 1991). These visions of ideal societies where an individual can lead the 'good life' in complete harmony and community with the environment have taken many forms. The utopian imagination has long held a privileged position in the human heart and can justifiably claim to have originated over three thousand visions of perfection (Manuel and Manuel, 1979). With reference to longitudinal study carried in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, Dublin, the research highlights the interplay and tensions that exist between the physical space that is the shopping centre location and the symbolic space that is the consumer imagination. It shows how his theoretical reflections on utopic signifying practices and notion of 'spatial play' can offer fresh insights into the spaces that contribute to the consumer experience in a festival marketplace. This study introduces the work of French philospher, Louis Marin, one of utopia's most original thinkers. Lorna Stevens, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland Stephen Brown, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland Pauline Maclaran, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland ![]() THE UTOPIAN IMAGINATION: SPATIAL PLAY IN A FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE Shrum, Marc Vanhuele, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 304-309.Įuropean Advances in Consumer Research VolPages 304-309 Pauline Maclaran, Stephen Brown, and Lorna Stevens (1999) ,"The Utopian Imagination: Spatial Play in a Festival Marketplace", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 4, eds. ABSTRACT - This study introduces the work of French philospher, Louis Marin, one of utopia's most original thinkers.
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