ABSTRACT
This introduction covers some key concepts discussed in the chapters of part six of this book. One of the chapters provides an overview of the metropolitan form of Washington, DC, and outlines the connections between economic and social change, the culture of consumption influencing the “new bourgeoisie,” and the postmodern style that characterizes the new built environment. Another chapter considers how the symbolic value of commodities interweaves with the social activity in specialized places (in this case “the mall”) to create profit for the retailer and produce new forms of identity for the consumer. One other chapter examines two landscapes developed in Vancouver, BC, during the 1980s, the first reflecting modernist architectural styles and planning theory, and the second postmodernist. It argues that each landscape reflects the cultural politics of neo-conservatism and liberalism respectively.
