The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies

Consumption, Landscapes of

J. MICHAEL RYAN

The American University in Cairo, Egypt

DOI: 10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs133

George Ritzer (2005) has built upon his notion of cathedrals of consumption to describe what he terms “landscapes of consumption,” or “geographic areas that encompass two, or more, cathedrals of consumption” (p. 149). This definition can be extended to define landscapes of consumption as locales that encompass two or more cathedrals of consumption that allow, encourage, and even compel people to consume. The prototypical example of this would be the Las Vegas strip – an area where multiple cathedrals of consumption exist side by side in the same geographic setting and entice consumers not only through their individual appeal, but also through the techniques made possible by their synergistic proximity.

Elsewhere, Ritzer, Ryan, and Stepnisky (2005) have extended the idea of landscapes of consumption with their case study of Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. They argue that Easton serves as a prototype of a consumer setting that is becoming increasingly prevalent – one that seeks to simulate the look and feel of a nostalgic small-town America. By encompassing two or more landscapes of consumption within one setting, Easton is able to expand the spectacle of landscape to a community level (Ryan 2005).

Sharon Zukin (1991) has also contributed much to the idea of landscape. She uses the term “landscape” to describe a configuration of material geographic surroundings ...