ABSTRACT
Contemporary globalization has many faces, images, and imperatives. In the next twenty-five years, the agencies of globalization – capital, culture, information, people, etc. (see Pizarro et al. 2004)–arelikelytobecomemoreactiveandmore pervasive. While the effect of globalization so far has been primarily a one-way process, from the north to the south, this will certainly change as the flow is reversed.Thethemeofthisbook–‘ChinaandEurope’–isanappropriatemetaphor that captures this scenario, although the reverseflowmay not necessarily originatefromChinaonly,itmayincludeotherpartsofthedevelopingsouth.To a largeextent, thisflowwillbemanifestedin theflowof labour,aswealready seeinmanycitiesofEuropewheretheinfluxofforeignlabourhasledtosegregatedenclavesandghettoes,contestedplaces,andspacesofinsurgentcitizenship (Holston 1995). Inexorably, this will be followed by bourgeois tourists from emergingeconomiesofthedevelopingworld,andwearelikelytoseeunprecedentedgrowthintourismastheranksofthemiddleclasscontinuetoincreasein many parts of the world, China and India being the notable cases in point. According to one report, some 8.3 million Indians travelled abroad in 2006 spending$7.5billionor$903perpersononaverage.TheChinesetouristsspent$100 moreonaverage(IndianTribune2007).AlthoughonlyafifthoftheIndiantravellerscametoEurope,thisnumberwillsurelygrowintheyearstocome. In this chapter, I will examine the implications of the inexorable growth in tourismand itsassociatedconsumption industryand the futurechoices for the conservation,design,anddevelopmentofEuropeancities.Thecentralconcept tobeexploredinthischapteristheconceptofflânerieasitmayapplytostudyingtheprospectsfortheurbanismofentertainment.Theactofflânerieinvolves looking,strolling,experiencingtheurbansensorium(seeGoonewardena2005) andspectacles.Thereisaconsiderablebodyofliteratureonflâneriegoingback totheunfinishedworkofWalterBenjaminonthepassagesofParis(Benjamin 1999).SusanBuck-Morss’s(1991)useofBenjamin’sprojectasanexampleof ‘dialecticsofseeing’providesanimportant theoreticalreferentforunderstandinghowurbanformandspacecanbesuffusedwiththematerialcultureofcapitalistconsumption.Benjamin(1999:422)wrote:
Theflâneuristheobserverofthemarketplace...Heisaspyforthecapitalists,onassignmentintherealmofconsumers.