ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the neglected aspect of the retail environment which, although clearly related to territorialisation, can sometimes be seen as an opposing tendency, feeding on variety rather than homogenization, the commercialisation of urban rhythms through strategies of synchrony. The chapter shows synchronisation can also play an important part in processes of territorialisation. The commercialisation of public space is not just about spatial control, it is also about temporal control, and while the retailisation of public space might imply the addition of new uses, it can also come with a more general tendency of synchronisation. The chapter describes and expands on different types of retail synchronisation in order to enable a more thorough analysis of how retail take part in the transformation and territorialisation of public space in the urban landscape. Shopping areas and malls all over the Western world seem to be territorialising and they 'withdraw from the wider urban fabric', to become camp-like facilities or huge out-of-context complexes.
