Heterotopia of the theme park street

Abstract

Foucault’s concept of heterotopia provides a useful tool for the analysis of contemporary public space. Here it provides the occasion to examine and analyse that most ubiquitous of public spaces – the street, or, more specifically, certain contemporary streets – ‘streetscaped’ malls. What Graham and Marvin (2003) have called ‘malls without walls’ is the latest trend in shopping mall development in North America and the latest variation on a theme park that the shopping mall industry refers to as ‘lifestyle centres’. It is the ‘next big thing’: the reconfiguration of the fortress-like, interiororiented mall into an open, outdoor simulated ‘Main Street’, complete with sidewalks, street furniture, street parking and cross-walks. Indeed, in the past five years there has been an explosion across North America of ‘theme park’-like street environments in suburban locations. Highly detailed and scenographic, they resemble a ‘critical regionalist’ version of Disneyland’s ‘Main Street’, with climate-appropriate landscaping, contextually sensitive buildings and abundant pedestrian amenities.