Constructing a Narrative Identity of Los Angles Through a Gastronoir Adventure (original) (raw)

Gastronomic identities and urbanism

Journal of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism

Culinary heritage, an edible identity, is a manifestation of the culture and urban life of a place. Most traditional food practices continue to flourish in historic urban settings as a result of the interplay between the spatial design and the socio-cultural practices. This essay explores these interconnections between gastronomic and architectural heritage through the lens of traditional urbanism. It emphasizes the importance of gastronomic culture within wider urban networks, bringing vibrancy and community engagement to traditional shared public spaces which host a wide range of activities. This symphony of traditions can also help us to achieve a sustainable and richer cultural life. They could become a model to upgrade modern spatial design practices, which are usually based on mere convenience or individual benefit.

Being in the City: The Sociology of Urban Experiences

Though urban sociologists tend to study the growth and development of cities, there is a venerable yet often marginalized tradition that addresses the embodied experience of urban life. Studies of urban experiences have recently begun to flourish due, in part, to the rise of sensory scholarship. Recognizing the connections between urban experiences and sensory stimulations provides nuanced ways to explore the actions and interactions between individuals and their relationships to and with urban places. Relying on a diverse literature of recent studies that focus on cities as dense sensory environments, this article shows the significance of studying city life at the experiential and sensory levels. First, a few seminal early works are discussed, with specific emphasis on Georg Simmel. Then, each of the five bodily senses and their correlated sensescapes – seescapes, soundscapes, smellscapes, tastescapes, and touchscapes – are presented in order to show individuals and groups use their senses to experience and make sense of the city. The article concludes with a brief discussion of methods and few suggestions to encourage future analyses of the everyday embodied and emplaced practices and interpretations of being in the city.

The Spectacle of Urban Consumption: the Role of Urban Art in the Reconfiguration of the Public Sphere.

Originally in CM: Communication Management Quarterly,No 14, Spring Issue, March 2010 pp. 5-32

The paper examines the spectacle of contemporary forms of advertising and product placements techniques in the context of urban environments (including the phenomenon of the so called ‘brand city’). This is an ‘over-exposed city’, to use Virilio’s terminology, a city penetrated by media and advertising, a topical manifestation of what Guy Debord called the ‘Society of the Spectacle’.

Urban branding and place as a quality product: innovations in the urban experience

Journal of Facilities Management, 2017

Purpose Starting from these premises, the aim of the paper is illustrating the role of experience in urban regeneration projects and to explore how the experience of high quality product luxury places can be sustainable with existent place identity or new place identity to be suitably created. Design/methodology/approach The experience of a place may become an integral part of a product experience. The enhancement of products (Splendiani, 2013): assumes a meaning which goes beyond the simple sale of material goods. It covers the supply of complex experiences … enriched by intangible elements capable to stimulate and involve the sensory and experiential component of consumption. It deals with attracting people to the places where local products are made by inserting the products in the most extensive offers covering the entire territorial system of reference The experience may also be used for the spectacolarisation of a place and its commercialisation, as in the case of “brandscapes...

Do experiential events create city brand

Purpose – This article analyzes to what extent mega-events are capable of developing powerful city brands that are internationally recognized – a topic that has been little studied to date. Design/methodology/approach – We used the quantitative method. We carried out 398 surveys with citizens living in Aguascalientes (Mexico), during the mega-event known as the Feria Nacional de San Marcos. Findings – The results allow us to verify that (i) with regard to background: residents' attitudes towards a city brand improve following experiences in mega-events in that city (H1) and (ii) with regard to effects: improving city brand attitudes increases residents' quality of life (H2). Originality/value – To date, there is no literature investigating how experiences in cultural mega-events improve attitudes towards city brands and, consequently, improve quality of life. To fill this gap, this article investigates the great advantages which mega-events can bring to a city