Consuming (in) the civilized city

This paper examines the creation of the city of York as a tourism destination. It is argued that changes to the process of capital accumulation in advanced industrial societies have led to the revaluation and commodification of place at a local level. Part of this process has been the creation of heritage as a tangible asset in the form of spatial narratives, and this in turn is linked to changing patterns of consumer retail activity. It is argued that tourism should not be conceptualized as a distinct activity but rather as a form of consumption in the context of both local and global changes.