The Enactment of Fast and Slow Time Regimes by Urban Retail and Consumer Services

Abstract

This article discusses the enactment of conflicting time regimes in contemporary urban retail and consumer services. We draw on the theories of time–space compression, social acceleration, and the fast–slow dichotomy to argue that retail and consumer services act on urban life by enacting two apparently conflicting time regimes: fast time and slow time. Although retail and consumer services are not able to establish urban time regimes by themselves, they enact time regimes in their stores by offering the temporal resources that consumers need to perform their preferred timestyles. These temporal resources stem from the store’s concepts, sales model and management strategies, and ambiances. We draw on our ongoing field research in Colinas do Cruzeiro, an upper middle-class suburban neighborhood in greater Lisbon, Portugal, which has included field surveys, nonparticipant observation, and semistructured interviews. Our findings identify three time regimes that retail and consumer services in Colinas do Cruzeiro enact in their stores. This finding allows us to understand the processes through which retail, consumer services, and urban rhythms tend to synchronize. We discuss the geographical implications of understanding the processes that underpin the enactment of time regimes in contemporary urban retail and consumer services.

本文讨论了当代城市零售业和消费服务业如何制定冲突的时间制度。利用时空压缩理论、社会加速理论和快慢二分法, 论证了在城市生活中, 零售业和消费服务业制定了两种明显冲突的时间制度：快时间和慢时间。零售业和消费服务业无法建立城市时间制度, 但是, 通过提供时间资源, 消费者需要执行零售和消费服务业所倾向的时间模式。由此, 行业在商店中制定了时间制度。这些时间资源, 来源于商店概念、销售模式、管理策略和环境。本文的研究区域为葡萄牙大里斯本地区的一个上中产阶级郊区社区Colinas do Cruzeiro。基于对该地区正在进行的实地研究, 包括实地调查、非参与性观察和半结构化访谈。研究结果确认, Colinas do Cruzeiro的零售业和消费服务业在商店中实行了三种时间制度。这一发现, 使我们能够理解零售业、消费服务业和城市节奏趋于同步的过程。针对当代城市零售和消费服务业制定时间制度, 本文讨论了理解其背后过程的地理含义。

Este artículo discute el establecimiento de regímenes conflictivos del tiempo en los servicios urbanos contemporáneos del comercio minorista y el consumo. Nos basamos en las teorías de compresión del tiempo–espacio, aceleración social y la dicotomía rapidez–lentitud para sostener que los servicios de ventas minoristas y consumo actúan sobre la vida urbana promoviendo dos regímenes del tiempo aparentemente en conflicto: tiempo rápido y tiempo lento. Aunque los servicios de comercio minorista y consumo son incapaces de establecer regímenes urbanos de tiempo por sí mismos, ellos si recrean regímenes del tiempo en sus tiendas ofreciendo los recursos temporales que los consumidores necesitan para mantener sus estilos de vidas preferidos. Estos recursos temporales provienen de los conceptos que utiliza la tienda, el modelo de ventas y las estrategias de manejo, y los ambientes. Nos apoyamos en nuestro actual trabajo de investigación de campo en Colinas o Cruzeiro, un vecindario suburbano de clase media alta en la gran Lisboa, Portugal, el cual ha incluido estudios de campo, observación no participativa y entrevistas semiestructuradas. Nuestros hallazgos identificaron tres regímenes de tiempo que los servicios de comercio minorista y consumo aplican en sus tiendas en Colinas do Cruzeiro. Este descubrimiento nos permite entender los procesos a través de los cuales tienden a sincronizarse los servicios de comercio minorita y consumo, y los ritmos urbanos. Discutimos las implicaciones geográficas que tiene entender los procesos que respaldan el establecimiento de regímenes de tiempo en los servicios urbanos contemporáneos de ventas minoristas y consumo.

Key Words:

• fast time
• polyrhythmia
• slow time
• time regime
• urban retail and consumer services

关键词：:

• 快时间
• 多节律
• 慢时间
• 时间制度
• 城市零售业和消费服务业。

Palabras clave::

• polirritmia
• régimen del tiempo
• servicios urbanos de comercio minorista y consumo
• tiempo lento
• tiempo rápido

Funding

This work was supported by the European research network Urban-Net and funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under Grant URBAN-NET 2010-174-16025-66 (CHRONOTOPE: Time–Space Planning for Resilient Cities: New Means of Sustainable Planning in Societies of Consumption).

Notes

1 A category killer is a retailer that specializes in and carries a deep product assortment within a given category and through selection, pricing and market penetration obtains a massive competitive advantage over other retailers. Chains such as Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, CompUSA and Linens 'n Things are considered category killers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Herculano Cachinho

HERCULANO CACHINHO is Associate Professor at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, Universidade de Lisboa, and researcher at the Center for Geographical Studies, 1600-276 Lisboa, Portugal. E-mail: [email protected]. He divides his research into two major domains: (1) the geography of retail and consumption and (2) geographic education and active teaching methodologies.

Daniel Paiva

DANIEL PAIVA is a Researcher at the Center for Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600-276 Lisboa, Portugal. E-mail: [email protected]. His main research interests lie at the intersection of social, cultural, and urban geography, mostly focusing on the everyday experience of urban space.