ABSTRACT
Drawing upon the research in urban studies, urban geography, ethnographic discourse analysis, and linguistic landscapes, this chapter explores the visual topographies of capitalism: the architecture, residential and store signs, public murals, statues and graffiti that depict and/or represent some aspect of the economy, whether it features corporate culture, consumer lifestyle and culture, and critiques or celebrations of capitalism. Part of the chapter addresses the linguistic landscapes of Los Angeles, London, and Boston in which urban spaces are defined and shaped by these landscapes of capital. It continues my research on how certain sociopolitical texts create, shape, and define counter-hegemonic and anti-capitalist imaginaries and practices in public, institutional, and commercialized spaces. How are these economic discourses instantiated in the material world? The chapter explores this by examining how the visualities of our cities are interwoven in both mirroring and constructive dimensions of the economy in its disseminations through how cities look via its multiple co-constructed landscapes.
