Customer Reviews

Fantasy City: Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Let me start off by saying that I finished this book and couldn't put it down. It's a comprehensive and fascinating look at city development specifically focusing on the "entertainment" aspect of city life. It helped me understand the movement towards the all-in-one suburban entertainment centres.

Hannigan aptly notes that many an urban renewal or even "new urbanist" design (say, South Street Seaport) resembles a theme park more than a real city. Especially helpful is the list of characteristics shared by entertainment complexes and "fantasy city" redevelopments. The discussion focuses on economic aspects of development (or why the new city won't be gritty) but also makes some mention of cultural impacts (notably making "the urban" a safe experience for the middle class shopper and off-limits to everyone else). If Hannigan's analysis is correct, we could all be living in Westfield malls soon.

i expeceted somethin different from this work. by this i do not mean that it is not worth it. it is too centred on the business aspect and its economic modus operandi (words as synergy private-publec strategies, etc. are common terms used)of the new UEDs. however i wanted to read something about the cultural and social impact of the new UED and thematized environments, and on this regard it says very little and nothing new or exciting as a matter of fact. this lack of critical perspective on the cultural and social implications of the UEDs is the fact when the author mentions that museums could get better technologies in order to make their exhibitions more attractive by establishing joint-ventures with multinatinal corporatives. the author mentions Epcot as the perfect example of such associations without considering that the realities shown at epcot are no more than the corporative visions on different realities. so, if you want a text business oriented on the Fantasy city, and nothing more, this is the book for you.

From the variety of other authors who cite this work, I expected something quite different, more of a cultural analysis than the author offers. I can't argue with his description of the complex financial maneuvers public and private entities go through to create UEDs and his research seems solid. I'm just more interested in the cultural impact of manufactured environments and pseudo-historical commercial landmarks (festival marketplaces) and this book doesn't go as far as I had hoped in discussing this element. Also, I thought that he would be primarily discussing urban development but his primary focus is on entertainment districts whether they are located in urban or suburban environments. He also varies a bit in his critique of UEDs, sometimes highlighting how they put local retail outlets out of business and create few jobs but later in the book he seems to express a lot of admiration for these captains of industry and commercial development and what they are able to accomplish especially regarding Las Vegas.

This book was very boring. I seldomly do not finish reading a book, but this was a book I did not finish. It consists mostly of facts and of little theory.