ABSTRACT
Mega-malls, mega-resorts, mega-hotels, mega-airports, mega-metropolises today's reinvention of places is offered up in the name of gigantism, in a culture obsessed with having the biggest, best, largest, shiniest and newest of everything. In this chapter, author shall turn to consider this broadening of the cultural logics of reinvention to that of places and spaces. Drawing on a wide range of studies and using contemporary illustrations from popular culture and consumerism, he shall argue that the rise of the reinvention of places is inextricably intertwined with consumption excess. He shall be looking at the emotional and environmental costs of Dubai's meteoric reinvention a little later, but to begin with, it is necessary to briefly chart the city's spectacular interweaving of excessive consumerism and themed tourism. Airports play a special role in this facilitation of mobile lives, and there is considerable evidence which indicates that hyper-aeromobilities are advancing the culture of reinvention to a dramatic new level.
