This book examines place and place-making in London’s Borough Market. In particular, it uses topo/graphy (‘place-writing) to interrogate the ways in which Borough Market’s material, social-sensual and discursive relations assemble to reproduce Borough Market as a place, market and marketplace. Its central premise is that market-processes – the negotiation and exchange of commodities –are place-processes. This means that the often-abstract relationships that ultimately define what we think of as the economy are embedded in the rich and every materiality, sociality, sensuality and meanings associated with place. By tracing out these different elements, topo/graphy illustrates the ways in which economic reproduction is grounded in particular and often discrete practices. However, by assembling them together, this highlights the ways in which place and place-making are the driving force behind the economy at large.
Author(s): Benjamin Coles
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 171
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Topo/graphic Introductions: Places, Markets and Marketplaces
Entering the Marketplace
Positioning the Marketplace
The Place of the Market
A Methodology for a Marketplace
Topo/graphy
To the Market(place)…
References
Chapter 2: Positioning Borough Market as Market and Marketplace
A Field in Chorleywood
Re/Placing Food
Placing Alternatives
Placing Urban Marketplaces
Borough Market and the City
Conclusions: Placing the Marketplace
References
Chapter 3: Imagined Geographies of the Marketplace: Fashioned Materialities
A Fine Alternative for a Market
Material Semiotics
Placement and Place: The Market’s Built Environment
Iron and Glass
Floral Hall
Market Things and What They Say
Bakers
Butchers
Materials and Meanings: Assembling the Market of Signs
Conclusions
References
Chapter 4: From Tree to Cup: Coffee and Commodity Culture in Borough Market
Cups of Coffee
Discovery: Placing Quality, Identifying Value
Transformation: Commoditizing Quality, Expressing Value
Translation: Performing Quality, Realizing Value
Conclusions: An Economy of Quality
References
Chapter 5: Vibrancy, Conviviality and Buzz: Reproducing Market and Marketplace
Buzzing Marketplace
Defining Buzz
Performing the Social
Relating Consumers
Performing the Marketplace
Leaky Space(s) and the Sensescape of the Market
The Sights
The Sounds
The Smells
The Feel of the Place
The Tastes
The Buzz: Towards A(nother) Geography of Borough Market
(Re)defining the Buzz
Critical Mass
The Market Buzzing
Conclusions: The Fuel of an Economy
References
Chapter 6: Assembling the Marketplace
Buzzing Marketplace
Buzzing Borough Market
Spatial Implications
Place-Fetish
Conclusions Leaving the Marketplace
References
Index
