1st Edition

Fantasy City Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis

By John Hannigan Copyright 1999
    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    Fantasy City analyses the post-industrialist city as a site of entertainment. By discussing examples from a wide variety of venues, including casinos, malls, heritage developments and theme parks, Hannigan questions urban entertainments economic foundations and historical background. He asks whether such areas of fantasy destroy communities or instead create new groupings of shared identities and experiences. The book is written in a student friendly way with boxed case studies for class discussion.

    Introduction; Part 1 Going out and Staying in; Chapter 1 “At Prices all can Afford”; Chapter 2 Don't Go Out Tonight; Chapter 3 “Cities are Fun”; Part 2 Landscapes of Pleasure; Chapter 4 “Sanitized Razzmatazz”; Chapter 5 Shopertainment, Eatertainment, Edutainment; Part 3 Entertaining Developments; Chapter 6 The “Weenie” and the “Genie”; Chapter 7 Calling the Shots; Chapter 8 Gambling on Fantasy; Chapter 9 Land of the Rising Fun; Chapter 10 Saved by a Mouse?;

    Biography

    John Hannigan is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Environmental Sociology also published by Routledge.

    'Hannigan provides a coherent and well-researched account of the flight of entertainment centres into the suburbs during the 1950s.' - Puncture (music magazine)