ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the city, and spaces and places within it, not only are sites of consumption but are also themselves consumed. Representations of the city in the virtual world of consumer society-in films, books, magazines, advertising, fashion and songsand the ways in which the city is represented in place promotion, planning and other official discourses are discussed. The chapter outlines the ways we consume spaces and places (visually and through smell, sound and touch) and how we interpret and experience the city. These topics are framed through the work of Henri Lefebvre (1971) and Edward Soja (1996), who highlight how the imaginary city and the ways we consume urban spaces and places (in relation to a complex matrix of identity positions noted in the previous chapter) not only affect the way we experience the city, but also inform the material development of our cities.
