The Role and Transformation of the City in the Experience Economy: Identifying and Exploring Research Challenges

Abstract

The article introduces the special issue on the role and transformation of the city in the experience economy and raises some research issues. The issue focuses on the transformative aspects that can be identified in relation to experience oriented planning and development. We show how experience economy is much related with affluence and the growth of leisure demand, and that place has a particular role to play in terms of amenities, narratives and identities. Places, and in particular cities, undergo development or commodification to attract leisure consumers, which are increasingly mobile. Both urban systems (the relative position and role of cities) and urban structures (the city fabric) change in the experience economy, and so does means and ends of planning, which can be seen to be increasingly entrepreneurial and stakeholder based.