Shop Local: Building a ‘Local’ Tribe through Consumption ... · Tribes, Consumer Value,...

Shop Local: Building a ‘Local’ Tribe through Consumption

Experiences in Servicescapes

by

Michelle Hall

Bachelor of Arts, University of Queensland,

Graduate Certificate Business, Queensland University of Technology

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Masters of Business (Research)

in

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Faculty of Business

Queensland University of Technology

Brisbane

January 2008

ii

Key Words

Brisbane, Community, Consumer Experiences, Consumer Research, Consumer

Tribes, Consumer Value, Consumption, Gentrification, Identity, Servicescapes,

Urban Renewal, West End

iii

Abstract Shop Local: Building a ‘Local’ Tribe through Consumption Experiences in

Servicescapes

The notion of community remains an important concern, for individuals, in urban

planning practice, and more recently in consumer research. This thesis research

explores community at the junction of these areas, through a grounded study of the

consumption practices of a place based consumer tribe that exists within an inner

city suburb undergoing urban renewal. The process of urban renewal is positioned as

a means to revitalise under-utilised inner city areas, and broaden opportunities for

city residents and visitors to experience an inner city lifestyle. It can also be seen as

a standardising project that commodifies diversity and devalues existing

communities and is associated with gentrification. Both perspectives can obscure the

possibility that consumption practices can be used to build community like

connections. This thesis applies a framework of literature from marketing and

consumer research to an urban renewal context, to explore this area of ambiguity.

The result of this exploration is a grounded theory of assuming a ‘local’ identity

through consumption experiences in servicescapes.

This thesis argues that consumers seek out individual servicescapes for the value

experiences that they offer, which can be identity defining. In particular the

interaction generated through these experiences can work to build tribal connections

to, and within, that servicescape. These consumption experiences can also be used to

make assumptions regarding the identity of others; both of the businesses

themselves, and the individuals encountered within them. The tribal connections

these experiences may generate can have individual benefits in that they can build

into existing social networks, but through repetition and shared experiences, may

also link an individual to a broader place based community.

This thesis also proposes that servicescapes can work to encourage this process, by

encouraging identity defining consumption experiences. Like individuals, businesses

can come to be assumed to be tribe members and this ‘localness’ can become a

symbolic operant resource that is valued by the tribe. As key sites in which members

of the ‘local’ tribe reinforce their commitment to the tribe, locally owned businesses

iv

may benefit by being more likely to be chosen over their ‘non-local’ competitors.

However, as an element of their tribal membership these businesses have a moral

responsibility to reinforce the collective ethic of the tribe and assist in integrating

new tribe members. In this way they can become ambassadors for the identity of the

community, communicating the shared values of the tribe to members and non-

members alike.

Such a place based tribe is primarily based on public interaction, thus the

servicescapes and public spaces that link them can come to work as a theatre in

which the tribe is manifested and its rituals performed. As the experience of a sense

of shared value is repeated across a range of geographically united servicescapes,

this shared experience can be displaced from any one servicescape and generalised

into a localness experience that is grounded within the geographic community. It is

here that the physical and ideological aspects of the community combine, and the

experienced value of a shared identity that originated in a servicescape based

consumption experience can come to symbolise the values of the greater community

itself. These research findings have implications for inner city urban renewal

developments, suggesting that the increased availability of consumption activities

that are associated with urban renewal may also be considered as an increased

opportunity to build place based consumer tribes. This thesis proposes ways of

encouraging this process.

v

Table of Contents

Key Words ________________________________________________________ ii Abstract___________________________________________________________ iii Table of Contents____________________________________________________v

List of Figures and Tables____________________________________________vii Statement of Original Authorship_____________________________________ viii Acknowledgements__________________________________________________ ix Chapter One—Introduction: Shopping for Localness_______________________1

The Importance of Place _________________________________________________ 2 Assuming a ‘Local’ Identity ______________________________________________ 4 Definitions and Clarifications of Terminology _______________________________ 6 Thesis Structure________________________________________________________ 8

Chapter Two—Research Methods _____________________________________10 The Grounded Theory Method __________________________________________ 10

Reasons for choosing the grounded theory method__________________________________11 Constructivist grounded theory _________________________________________________12

The Research Site _____________________________________________________ 13 The Procedures and Application of the Grounded Theory Method _____________ 16

The procedures of grounded theory______________________________________________17 The application of grounded theory: Data collection ________________________________21 The application of grounded theory: Coding and conceptualisation _____________________29 Limitations of this thesis research _______________________________________________33

Conclusion ___________________________________________________________ 34 Chapter Three—The Research Context: Living in the City _________________36

An ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ Context ____________________________________________ 38 ‘Cinderella City’: The ‘new liveability’ of Brisbane _________________________ 40

Brisbane, it’s happening ______________________________________________________42 The Gentrification (sorry, Urban Renewal) of Inner City Brisbane_____________ 44

Urban renewal and capital: A place for investment__________________________________46 Urban renewal as culture: Inner city liveability ____________________________________49 Capital building culture: Urban villages as ‘lifestyle’ communities _____________________50

The Problem with Gentrification (in the West End context)___________________ 52 Conclusion: Making consumption explicit in gentrification ___________________ 58

Chapter Four—Consumption Experiences and Communities: A Research Overview__________________________________________________________60

Co-creating Consumption Experiences ____________________________________ 62 Shared Consumption Experiences and Consumption Communities ____________ 65

Research on consumption communities __________________________________________66 Place based consumer tribes? __________________________________________________68

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Servicescapes as Sites for Sociality________________________________________ 70 Conclusion: Considering servicescapes as sites for building place based consumption communities __________________________________________________________ 74

Chapter Five—Using Consumption Experiences in Servicescapes to Assume a ‘Local’ Identity_____________________________________________________77

Being ‘Local’: I love West End___________________________________________ 80 Servicescapes as ‘Local’ Places___________________________________________ 85

Assuming business as an ‘us’: “Lots are locally owned which I love” ___________________86 Assuming business as a ‘them’: “No one likes chain places here” ______________________88

Experienced Consumer Value in ‘Local’ Servicescapes: Co-creating localness recognition experiences _________________________________________________ 91

Experiencing consumer value __________________________________________________92 Efficiency and excellence: Individual value experiences _____________________________94 Play, status and esteem: Sharing value experiences through social interaction_____________96 The value of a variety of places and non-places ____________________________________99

Conclusion: Assuming a ‘Local’ Identity through Consumption Experiences in Servicescapes ________________________________________________________ 100

Chapter Six—The Advantages and Responsibilities of Being a Locally Owned Business _________________________________________________________102

The Advantages of Being a Locally Owned Business: “We’re spoiled because our regular customers are all nice people”____________________________________ 104 The Responsibilities of Being a Locally Owned Business_____________________ 108

Reinforcing the collective ethic________________________________________________108 Encouraging the rituals of the tribal aesthetic _____________________________________110

Servicescapes as New Spaces for Sociality_________________________________ 112 Sharing the ‘Local’ Identity: Emplacing tribal bonds within a communityscape_ 115 Conclusion: Building a ‘local’ tribe through servicescapes and streetscapes ____ 117

Chapter Seven—Conclusion: Localness from Shopping___________________119 Research Conclusions: Hospitality is an integral part of community___________ 122

It is possible to consider a place-based community as a consumer tribe_________________123 Servicescapes as tribe members can work individually to build, support and reinforce a place based tribe through their value offering _________________________________________125 Symbolically associated ‘scapes’ can work cumulatively to support, reinforce and ‘ground’ a place based tribe. ___________________________________________________________128

Practical Implications _________________________________________________ 129 Implications for Further Research_______________________________________ 132

Appendix One—Questionnaire _______________________________________135

References _______________________________________________________141

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List of Figures and Tables

Figure 1: The West End area _______________________________________________________14 Figure 2: The suburbs of inner city Brisbane ___________________________________________47 Figure 3: Assuming an outcome: Public comment on urban renewal in West End ______________52 Figure 4: The identity conundrum according to a West End clothes store_____________________60 Figure 5: Declaring a ‘local’ identity_________________________________________________80 Figure 6: Rallying a ‘local’ tribe: a small business postcard campaign ______________________86 Figure 7: Public comment on a breach of the tribal ethic _________________________________89 Table 1: Typology of Consumer Value (Holbrook, 1999b)_________________________________93

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Statement of Original Authorship

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet the

requirements for an award at this or at any other higher education institution. To the

best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously

published or written by another person except where due reference is made.

Signed

Date

ix

Acknowledgements

Sincere thanks and gratitude is due to all the ‘locals’ who inspired and informed this

research through their nods, waves, smiles and random chats over beer and coffee.

Thanks especially to the business owners, who allowed me to fill their servicescapes

with my stories, and my story with their servicescapes.

Thanks also go to my family and friends, for the reassurance; to Lyn, Park and Steve

for the finances; and to Judy, for the long leash.

Chapter One: Shopping for Localness 1

Chapter One

Introduction: Shopping for Localness

West End is an inner city suburb of Brisbane, sheltered on a peninsula by the

Brisbane River. It is marketed as Brisbane’s ‘bohemian’ suburb, and generally

perceived to be friendly, open and tolerant. The suburb is home to a diverse and

multicultural population, which is reflected in the shops and services, community

and political organisations, architecture, and the ‘wild life’ of the street. West End is

a community, and proud of that fact.

The West End area also contains a quantity of prime riverfront ex-industrial land,

which is of significant interest to developers and the Brisbane City Council, as

under-utilised inner city land suitable for converting to residential and commercial

use. The urban renewal project has finally reached the West End area, bringing with

it a value-laden discourse of community destruction and revitalisation, of

authenticity and commodification, of the global and the local, of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

The impacts of urban renewal; an increase in population, investment in housing

stock, office developments and streetscape revitalisation, and more frequent public

transport for example, are seen as beneficial by some West End residents and

businesses. They represent an opportunity to grow business and the community, to

communicate the values of the area, and to make other people want to be like ‘us’.

It was a small business owner who subscribed to this more positive viewpoint who

inspired this thesis research. A key strategy of his business model was to create a

servicescape:

… where it is actually a hub for people to explore what is in their

local area and it’s a venue where you open up, and you can tap into it.

If you were new [from] out of town or something that’ll be

somewhere where you can pretty much make some connections really

quickly (Key interview: café owner).

For him business was not just business, it was also community. Or more precisely,

building community was part of his business. This thesis research is an exploration

of this process, of if, and how, servicescapes such as cafes, bars, bakeries, and fruit


and vegetable shops, can be seen as a viable way of building and maintaining a place

based community.

Drawing on this context, the research problem of this thesis is defined as follows:

how can the residents of an established geographic community use consumption

experiences to build a local identity? A particular area of interest within this

problem, inspired by the business owner referenced above is; how can small

businesses contribute to this identity defining process? As this research is also

concerned with the implications of these processes for the identity of the community

as a whole, the second research question is proposed with a view towards

understanding the ways in which small businesses may work towards integrating

new residents into a place based community.

The Importance of Place

Geographic place remains an important aspect of identity construction (Butler, 2007;

Low & Altman, 1992; Miller, Jackson, Thrift, Holbrook, & Rowlands, 1998),

despite (or perhaps because of) its ongoing fragmentation and commodification

through the global systems of culture, media, technology, and the economy (Smith,

2001; Urry, 1995). Indeed it is suggested that the ongoing processes of globalisation

works to increase local distinctiveness, where rather than an overall homogenised

global culture we instead see a multiplicity of localities, connected by these same

global systems (Appadurai, 1990; Smith, 2001; Urry, 1995). Despite this, the process

of identification with place is often seen as separate from these global connections,

that is, the local is defensively positioned as existing outside of these global

structures (Smith, 2001). This complexity can often be reduced to a simplistic ‘us’

and ‘them’ binary, which positions the ‘us’ as local and authentic, and the ‘them’ as

a homogenising force driven by global markets.

The redevelopment of inner city areas is one particular site where this ideological

battle is waged. Urban renewal, particularly through its marketing of an ideology of

liveability (Lees, 2000), can work to link convenient access to a range of

consumption opportunities to a ‘village’ like urban lifestyle. There is an implication

within this marketing that proximity may work to build community like connections.


At the same time, urban renewal, as gentrification, is strongly associated with the

commodification of place (Urry, 1995) and the homogenisation of existing

community (Zukin, 1998). From this perspective urban renewal is seen to negatively

impact communities, by displacing original residents, and reducing and

commodifying diversity (Atkinson, 2003; Smith, 1996; Zukin, 1998). Both

perspectives can be seen to be problematic, particularly in relation to the

assumptions made regarding the role of consumption practices and the motivations

of the individuals who engage in them. But both remain powerful discourses, and are

common in the media and marketing that has surrounded the urban renewal

processes that have been underway in inner city Brisbane since the early 1990s.

A common element in both these popular discourses is the importance of

consumption practices. Whether positioned as shallow and materialistic, or as part of

a new convenient urban lifestyle, the role of consumption experiences, and the

motivation of the individuals who engaged in them, is clearly an underlying concern

within the West End context. Yet gentrification research, which is the ‘natural’

theoretical home for studies of urban renewal, tends to rely on implicit assumptions

regarding the nature of consumption practices that are implicated within the process

(Jackson & Thrift, 1995; Miles, 1998; Redfern, 2003; Warde, 1991; Wynne &

O'Connor, 1998). In particular, constructions of the consumption practices of

gentrifiers as a class-based differentiation process works to obscure non-class based

drivers, and conflate a range of identity projects, under a middle class banner

(Redfern, 2003; Wynne & O'Connor, 1998). This theoretical framework raises two

main concerns when considered with regard to the research context. Firstly,

gentrification discourses clearly feed into stereotypical assumptions of consumer

motivations, such as the ‘yuppie’. Secondly, assuming consumption as a process of

differentiation excludes, or at least obscures, its potential as a process of collective

identification.

More specifically, returning to the inspirational business owner, gentrification

research does not really offer a theoretical basis from which to consider the practices

of interest within the second research question; how servicescapes may influence

individual’s identity projects. This research question is more appropriately framed

within the literature of marketing and consumer research. Not only does the


extensive literature on servicescapes provide insight into their influence on

consumption experiences (e.g., Arnould & Price, 1993; Bitner, 1992; Sherry, 1998c),

but research on consumption communities, and particularly their conceptualisation

as consumer tribes (Cova, 1997; Cova & Cova, 2002; Cova, Kozinets, & Shankar,

2007b), offers a viable alternative perspective on the relationship between

consumption and community

This thesis research then is based on the premise that shifting the study of the

consumption practices within urban renewal from the urban to the consumption, can

offer a fresh perspective on the marketplace ideologies that are bound up in

conceptualisations of urban lifestyles and the strategies that consumers use to

interpret and manipulate them. In this way, this research seeks to use marketing and

consumer research frameworks to explore a context more commonly the domain of

urban sociologists, and geographers. Through the application of this alternate

theoretical framework, this thesis seeks to draw out insights that may broaden

understandings of how individual’s may use the marketplace to build connections in

place based communities, and offer suggestions regarding ways place based

communities may use the market to encourage social links and help to integrate

residents.

Assuming a ‘Local’ Identity

Applying the methods of grounded theory, this thesis research explores the practices

of assuming a ‘local’ identity and the ways in which this is enabled by consumption

practices. The language of ‘assumption’ is adopted to emphasise the subjective

nature of these assumptions. To assume something can imply one is ‘taking it on’,

‘taking it for granted’, ‘feigning’ or ‘pretending’. An assumption is also something

that can be directed at others, or taken on oneself. In particular, the subjectivity

involved in the process of assuming highlights the significant influence of external

discourses and ideologies. The assumption of a ‘local’ identity in the West End

context is as much an assumption regarding the identity of others, as it is a process

of taking on the identity for oneself. This thesis research’s concern is the manner in


which consumption experiences may direct these assumptions toward an ‘us’, rather

than the ‘them’ implied in gentrification.

This thesis argues then that consumers seek out individual servicescapes for the

value experiences that they offer, which can be identity defining. In particular, the

interaction generated through these experiences can work to build tribal connections

to, and within, that servicescape. These consumption experiences can also be used to

make assumptions regarding the identity of others; both the businesses themselves,

and the individuals encountered within them. These links may have individual

benefits, and can build into existing social networks, but through repetition, and

shared experiences, can also link an individual to a broader place based identity.

The public nature of servicescapes provides a prime location in which such identity

defining experiences can be shared. Furthermore, the permeable boundary between

servicescapes and the streetscape allows interaction and observation across spaces.

These open interactions have the potential to build the connections of a consumer

tribe through a shared sense of localness. United by a shared sense of value, and an

attachment to the geographic community, this tribe reinforces itself through the

symbolic and ritualised interaction that servicescapes allow. Encouraging these tribal

bonds can help to generate a sense of connection between individuals, and a

commitment to the collective values of the community.

This thesis also proposes that business owners can encourage this ritual interaction,

and the shared value experiences that arise, through the design of their servicescape

and the manner in which they support and reinforce the values of the tribe. By doing

so, businesses can also increase their value offering, through the symbolic operant

resource that localness becomes. Importantly, it also suggests that business owners

and consumers through their interactions and shared experiences can work to

reinforce a collective ethic; the shared values of the community. This also works as

an integrating process, and can work to build overall sense of place and belonging.

That is, businesses such as cafes, bars, bakeries, markets and fruit and vegetable

shops can individually, and collectively work to act as hubs from which people can

explore the area in which they live, and work to build connections with others within

that area; to assume a ‘local’ identity.


Definitions and Clarifications of Terminology

This section clarifies the usage of some of the terminology that will be employed in

this thesis document that can have complex meanings, or to which a range of

interpretations can be applied. The terms collective servicescape and

communityscape have been constructed for use in this thesis to simplify the reference

to certain aspects of the study, in particular those related to the concepts of

community.

In line with this thesis’ focus on servicescapes (Bitner, 1992), terminology used to

account for the influence of the physical and social elements of the consumption

space on the service encounter, and drawing on Appadurai (1990), this thesis applies

the suffix of scapes to two other important spaces relevant to its research, the place

based community (communityscape), and the accumulation of a number of

servicescapes within a geographic location (collective servicescape). In addition, to

enable a level of consistency and clarity when discussing these elements, the suffix

of scape is used to evoke the ‘imagined’ (Anderson, 2006) nature of these

constructs. The meaning of the construct itself, and the ‘thing’ it refers to, is

subjective and fluid, influenced by an individual’s social, historical, political, and

economic perspectives (Appadurai, 1990). Recognising this ideological aspect,

particularly in relation to an understanding of community, is essential to this thesis

research.

Collective servicescape is defined as the accumulation of a series of individual

servicescapes, linked through physical and/or symbolic circumstances, such as

geographic proximity. These servicescapes may cumulatively communicate certain

value offerings, such as the shared values or lifestyles of their users, and in their

sum, come to represent something greater than the parts, such as ‘locally owned’

business. Shopping centres are an example of a collective servicescape, which

communicates cultural meanings beyond the sum of its component parts.

Communityscape is defined as the accumulation and interrelation of the physical,

social, symbolic and ideological aspects of a geographically bound community. This

terminology has been adopted due to a concern regarding the broad use of

‘community’ within the discourse of the research context, and the different levels of


meaning that were clearly attached to it. The term community can be generally

understood and used in four different ways (Savage & Warde, 1993; Urry, 1995), all

of which are relevant to this thesis. These are:

• the geographic sense; referring to the physical boundaries of a settlement,

• a sense of community; a social system that implies interconnection of local

people and institutions,

• communion; a particular kind of human association implying personal ties

and a sense of belonging and,

• the ideology of community; where efforts are made to attach conceptions of

communion to buildings, places, collectives of people, or cities, in ways

which conceal and help to perpetuate the non-communion relations actually

found to be there (Urry, 1995).

The ideological aspect of this fourth point is also highlighted in Anderson’s (2006)

construct of the imagined community. Anderson suggests that community is

imagined, in that an individual community member will never know most of their

fellow-members, and that community is imagined, such that the perception of shared

value or communion, masks the differences and inequalities that communities

contain. Emphasising this imagined aspect reinforces the influence of the ideologies

of community including those constructed by those ‘outside’ of the geographical

community, such as by media and policy discourses. These ideologies may impact

on a community member’s imagined experience of communion and their sense of

community. Thus, the different aspects of community are not mutually exclusive, but

intertwined in an individual’s experience and imagination.

For this reason, it is useful to be able to refer both to the individual aspects of a

community, and to the accumulation of these aspects as an imagined community, as

a communityscape. Like the elements of servicescape, the physical, social, symbolic

and ideological aspects of the communityscape may exert a separate influence, but

their impact is also felt cumulatively, and in a manner that is always in relation to

other experiences, other servicescapes, or other imagined communities. The

communityscape is not therefore a static, bounded cultural space of ‘being’ united by

a cohesive set of cultural values and agreed upon ways of life that is isolated and


protected from the market by its ‘authenticity’, as can be attributed to the local

(Smith, 2001). Instead it is, like the individuals within it, defined in relation to the

culture and market in which it exists.

Thesis Structure

To trace this journey from consumption to community, this thesis adopts the

following structure. Chapter Two describes the research methodology of Grounded

Theory, and how it was applied to this thesis research, preliminary background

information regarding the research site is also included in this chapter. Chapter

Three significantly expands on this contextual description, outlining the broader

identity shifts that have been underway in Brisbane and the manner in which the

urban renewal of inner city areas was been positioned within this. This chapter draws

on data from document sources and West End residents to outline the discourses

regarding urban renewal that were present in the West End area. Finally, Chapter

Three discusses how the analysis of this specific research context highlighted the

value of instead considering the research problem from the perspective of theories of

marketing and consumer research. These are outlined in Chapter Four. Chapters

Three and Four have been ordered in this manner to more closely reflect the

evolution of the grounded theory of this thesis.

Chapter Four thus outlines the theoretical framework, focusing in particular on areas

of consumer research that have explored the notion of consumption communities.

This area of research proposes that individuals can build connections with others

through shared consumption experiences, and that these connections can have

identity defining value. Given the initial inspiration for this research, theory on

servicescapes that considers their relational potential is also outlined. In line with the

procedures of grounded theory, this framework has developed in tandem with the

analysis process, thus is not presented as a means of isolating a literature gap, but of

summarising important theoretical areas that the grounded theory of assuming a

‘local’ identity through consumption experiences in servicescapes draws on.

Chapters Five and Six discuss this theory in detail. Chapter Five primarily addresses

the key research problem. It firstly outlines the nature of the West End ‘local’


identity that became apparent through this research, and then looks at the manner in

which consumption experiences in servicescapes may help individuals to assume

that identity for themselves and others. This chapter draws on the typology of

consumer value (Holbrook, 1999b), to try to conceptualise the identity defining

meanings that are experienced through these consumption practices and consider

their relation to the ‘local’ identity. Chapter Six focuses on the sub research

question, by exploring the role of servicescapes more closely, with particular interest

in how these businesses can work to facilitate the process of identity assumption by

supporting and reinforcing the activities of the tribe. The final chapter present

conclusions and explores the implications of the theory of assuming a ‘local’ identity

through consumption experiences in servicescapes for theoretical and practical

contexts, with suggestions for further research.

Chapter Two: Research Methods 10

Chapter Two

Research Methods

This chapter describes the procedures of the grounded theory research method and

the manner in which they were applied to the research problem of this thesis. A

constructivist approach to the grounded theory method was chosen as it is a

methodology that encourages the researcher to move beyond a focus on people, and

to instead explore their actions and interactions whilst remaining grounded in the

physical and social context of the research site, an inner city suburb facing change in

the form of urban renewal.

This chapter begins by providing background to the grounded theory method, and to

the constructivist version that is applied here. The reasons for choosing this

methodology are also stated. The second section of this chapter provides a basic

description of the research site, to add clarity to the discussion of the data collection

and analysis processes that forms the majority of this chapter. The description of the

research site is followed by an outline of the methods of grounded theory, theoretical

sampling, constant comparison, theoretical memos, and the role of theoretical

sensitivity. Next the types of data collected are outlined, and the process of analysis

described. Finally a discussion of limitations evident in this thesis research

completes the chapter.

The Grounded Theory Method

The grounded theory method was developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) as a

means to facilitate the systematic discovery of theory from data collected through

social research. This was a response to their concerns regarding an overemphasis in

sociology at the time on the verification of theory using quantitative methods. Glaser

and Strauss’ (1967) stated purpose was to develop an inductive research method that

could be used to generate theory that is able to predict and explain behaviour, can

usefully advance theoretical knowledge and be usable in practical applications.


Grounded theory does not specify data collection techniques, instead offering a set

of guidelines on how to systematically develop hypotheses to produce an inductive

theory about a substantive area (Charmaz, 2000; Glaser, 1978, 2004; Lowe, 1996).

The key tools of the grounded theory method are constant comparison, the

simultaneous collection and analysis of data, and theoretical sampling (Glaser &

Strauss, 1967). The systematic application of these data collection and analysis tools

can be used to build substantiative theoretical frameworks that make sense of the

collected data.

Reasons for choosing the grounded theory method

The grounded theory method was chosen for this research because as an analytical

process it encourages the researcher to develop, refine and relate concepts through

explanatory frameworks—focusing on action, interaction and the meanings this

generates, rather than focusing on people themselves (Charmaz, 2000, 2006; Glaser

& Strauss, 1967). By concentrating on the social processes highlighted within the

data, the grounded theory method reduces reliance on pre-existing theoretical

frameworks to drive the research focus (Glaser, 1978), and instead works towards

building a substantiative theory that is “likely to be intelligible to, and usable, by

those in the situations observed” (Turner, 1983, p. 334).

The freedom to look beyond pre-existing theoretical frameworks was seen to be a

valuable approach for this thesis research. That is, research that aimed toward a

practical and relevant exploration of the role of consumption practices within the

development of a place based identity within the context of a geographic

community’s experience of change through urban renewal. The research context is

one that would generally fall under the theoretical areas of urban sociology or

geography, as gentrification research. However, gentrification research, whilst

multidisciplinary, tends to rely on implicit assumptions regarding the nature of

consumption practices in renewed urban areas (Jackson & Thrift, 1995; Redfern,

2003; Warde, 1991) leaving the meanings attributed to the individual’s consumption

practices somewhat unexplored. As will be outlined in Chapter Three, these implicit

assumptions, and broader—and somewhat negative—popular associations of

gentrification with the commodification of community diversity, can lead to an over


reliance on stereotypes, such as ‘yuppies’, that can have a considerable negative

discursive impact. However it appeared that within the research context,

consumption practices could also play an important role in maintaining building a

place based identity, particularly that which occurred within small businesses.

Grounded theory’s focus on data, rather than a priori theoretical frameworks is

therefore seen as a means of moving beyond the distractions of a gentrification

framework to generate a workable and relevant theory that is grounded in the action

and interaction inherent in consumption, and the manner in which this may

contribute to, rather than just degrade, community connections.

Constructivist grounded theory

This research project adopts what Charmaz (2000; 2006) calls a constructivist

approach, in recognition of the claims of positivistic premises that underpin the

grounded theory method. Charmaz argues that the emphasis in the grounded theory

method on ‘discovery’ assumes a neutral observer able to objectively uncover

meaning that is inherent in data, and does not account for the interpretative work of

both research participants and the researcher (see also Bryant, 2002, 2003). Glaser

refutes this, and proposes that an ‘all is data’ approach accounts for researcher

interpretation by including “not only what is being told, how it is being told and the

conditions of its being told, but also all the data surrounding what is being told”

(Glaser, 2002, para. 1). Yet as noted by Bryant (2003), this is an unclear formulation

that does little to resolve Glaser’s concern that constructivism is a “an effort to

dignify the data and to avoid the work of confronting research bias” (Glaser, 2002,

para. 11), nor does it offer guidance for researchers attempting to address their

interpretative influence.

Glaser’s ‘all is data’ approach sees researcher interpretation as a level of bias that

can be minimised through the procedures of constant comparison (Bryant, 2003;

Glaser, 2002). A constructivist position recognises that interpretation is the result of

shared experiences and relationships with participants, and is influenced by the

greater temporal, cultural and geographical contexts in which the research is

embedded (Charmaz, 2006). Thus, instead of being seen as a means to neutralise the

bias of representation, the use of constant comparison in constructivist grounded


theory can work to make these vantage points and their implications explicit

(Charmaz, 2006).

It was deemed vital that this research be conducted in a manner that recognised, and

was able to account for, the subjective influence of the researcher. The researcher

was a resident of the research site; therefore the influence of personal experience on

the analysis process was inevitable. A constructivist approach encourages this

recognition, so that accounting for, and investigating its influence becomes part of

the data analysis. Acknowledging this researcher subjectivity has also worked to

sensitise the analysis to the subjectivity inherent in the data, including the important

influence of contextual elements, such as the gentrification informed discourse of

urban renewal. This has been the key value for this thesis research in taking a

constructivist approach to the grounded theory method.

This decision to adopt a constructivist grounded theory method for this thesis was

guided by the potential of a subjective influence from both the research context, and

the researcher and the elements of the research context that suggests value in a

different approach. Constructivist grounded theory offers tools that can account for

these influences and enable the research to move beyond basic stereotypes. By

grounding the research in the data it is possible to explore the research problem in a

manner that can lead to both theoretical and practical outcomes.

The Research Site

The research for this thesis was conducted in and around West End, an inner city

suburb of Brisbane, Australia (Figure 1). The area publicly referred to as West End

generally also includes the mainly residential suburbs of Hill End and Highgate Hill.

Along with South Brisbane, these three suburbs are contained by a loop of the

Brisbane River, which creates a peninsula, and thus restricts the number of access

points into the area. Whilst much of the action this thesis research focuses on occurs

around West End’s retail and business strips—in Boundary Street, Vulture Street and

Hardgrave Road—respondents who were residents of the research site came from

West End, Hill End and Highgate Hill. The total research site thus includes these

surrounding suburbs, which for ease of expression shall be referred to as the West


End area. The combined population of the area according to 2006 census is 11,634

(adapted from Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007e, 2007f). Comparisons with

2001 data show that the population increased by 874 people, less than 0.1% (adapted

from Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002a, 2002b).

Figure 1: The West End area

Source: adapted from Brisbane Google–Map, MapData Sciences (2007)

The development of the unique character of the West End area is the subject of a

well-established historical narrative, oft repeated in media, and by research

respondents. The West End area is recognised as a socio-economically diverse area

of inner city Brisbane, with a multicultural population, shared community values and

a strong sense of uniqueness. A high percentage of the population are of non-Anglo

origin; 39% of the population of the area was born outside Australia and 32% of the

area’s population speak a language other than English at home (adapted from

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007e, 2007f). This is well above Brisbane averages

(28% and 16% respectively) (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007d). Greek,

Turkish, Lebanese, Chinese and Vietnamese cultural influences are evident in the

area, especially within small businesses such as Greek delicatessens and restaurants,

Bou

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y S

t


Lebanese takeaways, and Vietnamese restaurants and small supermarkets. An

Indigenous community also has a strong base in the area.

The area is generally described as ‘once’ a working class suburb, characterised by

factories along the riverfront in the Montague Road industrial precinct. This remains

a strong narrative, despite approximately 50% of the area population being employed

in managerial or professional categories according to both 2001 and 2006 census

data1, compared to Brisbane at 40% in 2006 (adapted from Australian Bureau of

Statistics, 2002a, 2002b, 2007d, 2007e, 2007f). Close proximity to the Brisbane

CBD, two universities and a TAFE, as well as generally affordable housing and rent,

is attributed with attracting students and ‘alternative’ types. The availability of rental

housing remains an important feature of the area, with 55% of dwellings being

rental, well above Brisbane figures of 34% (adapted from Australian Bureau of

Statistics, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c). Some political (chiefly left-wing) and

environmental interest groups are also based in the area, adding to the broad sense of

diversity. The West End area has also traditionally been seen as a welfare location; it

is home to a number of boarding houses and some public housing, as well as non-

governmental organisations that aim to assist people in need. This diverse population

and range of interests contributes to the research site’s reputation as bohemian,

dynamic, and a ‘cultural melting pot’.

Small retail businesses and service industries are a prominent feature of the West

End area. The majority of these small businesses operate from the Boundary Street

shopping area, running approximately from the Melbourne Street junction to the

Vulture Street intersection. These include cafés, bars, restaurants, delicatessens, fruit

and vegetable shops and bakeries as well as clothing stores, shoe shops, chemists,

dentists, and hairdressers. On Hardgrave Road there are two small clusters of small

businesses, one near the Vulture Street intersection, and another near the Dornoch

Terrace junction. Vulture Street, between Boundary Street and Hardgrave Road is

also a developing retail area (see Figure 1). There are also a number of commercially

focused businesses in the ‘old industrial’ area along Montague Road, including

wholesale and warehousing activities, as well as an ever increasing number of

1 Occupation data is not available by statistical local area for the 1996 census, thus no further direct comparison can be made.


professional services, including creative industries and the head offices of service

industry companies.

West End’s inner city riverfront location, established public and business

infrastructure and under-utilised riverfront land has recently drawn considerable

interest from Brisbane City Council, developers, and property investors who see it as

a prime location for urban renewal activities. New development is continuing the

increase the housing, retail and office space that is available. This is working to

extend retailing strips down Melbourne Street towards South Brisbane and South

Bank, along Vulture Street towards Hardgrave Road, and along Montague Road, as

well as increase residential opportunities along the riverfront, and in the industrial

areas of South Brisbane.

The West End area can thus be described as an inner city suburb with a well-

established small business infrastructure that serves a diverse population. This

established infrastructure, the proximity of the area to the Brisbane CBD, and the

availability of land in old industrial areas, means the area has been identified as

suitable for urban renewal. This description has been provided here as background

information to add clarity to the discussion of the processes of data collection and

analysis that follows. The implications of the urban renewal activities for the

research site and the research itself will be discussed as an element of the context, in

Chapter Three.

The Procedures and Application of the Grounded Theory Method

This section describes the basic procedures of the grounded theory method, and the

manner in which these were applied to the problem of interest to this thesis research.

The grounded theory method does not propose to specify data collection techniques,

instead offering a set of guidelines on how to analyse data inductively. That is,

grounded theory is a method of systematic data analysis, where data coding and

analysis are intricately intertwined with sampling decisions, through constant

comparison. Methods of data collection are therefore led by the developing theory,

and the context of the research itself. The data collection methods used here were

interviews, questionnaires, photographs and the collection of newspaper and


marketing documentation. This section will firstly outline the basic procedures of

grounded theory, and then how they were applied to the collection and analysis of

data for this thesis research.

The procedures of grounded theory

The key tools of the grounded theory method are constant comparison, the

simultaneous collection and analysis of data, and theoretical sampling, where

decisions about data gathering are guided by the developing theory (Glaser &

Strauss, 1967). It is these processes that keep the theory grounded in the ‘realities’ of

the data, by allowing categories of analysis to inform data collection with the aim of

category clarification and saturation (Charmaz, 2000; Glaser, 1978). The

development of categories is recorded and supported through memo writing. These

tools serve an analytical purpose, and are used to link codes into categories, and lift

the data to a theoretical level by encouraging conceptualisation (Glaser & Strauss,

1967). This conceptualisation process is assisted by theoretical sensitivity—the

ability to see and follow developing concepts—which is enhanced through exposure

to literature and experience (Glaser, 1978). Each of these processes will be described

in more detail below.

Theoretical sampling Grounded theory procedures rely on a synergistic process of

data collection and analysis, such that developing categories guide sampling

decisions for further data collection. This guided sampling process, called theoretical

sampling, allows the researcher to follow the emerging theory by choosing what data

to collect next and where to find it (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Initial sampling

decisions are made with respect to research questions or broader observed

phenomenon, but once comparative analysis has begun, respondents are chosen for

their theoretical relevance (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). In this way, theoretical

sampling differs from traditional approaches to sampling in that sample sizes are not

determined by a priori hypotheses, or by a need for comparative representation, but

by the emerging theory (Lowe, 1996; Suddaby, 2006). This means that there can be

no definite, prescribed or pre-planned sample size, nor amount of data to be

collected, instead sampling is continued until theoretical saturation, indicated

through coding, has been reached (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lowe, 1996).


Coding The relation between data collection and analysis suggested by theoretical

sampling means that coding begins soon after data has been collected. The two key

coding processes are open and focused coding (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Open codes

work to categorise the data empirically through a systematic line-by-line reading

(Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lowe, 1996). Focused coding is a more selective process

that works to raise the analysis beyond description and categorisation to a conceptual

level, by allowing the synthesis of large amounts of data into conceptual categories

that make analytical sense (Charmaz, 2006; Glaser, 1978; Glaser & Strauss, 1967).

Two additional levels of coding, axial (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) and theoretical

(Glaser, 1978), have been proposed as systematic ways of specifying the dimensions

of these categories and integrating categories into analytic frameworks by testing

against certain a priori concepts. Both levels of coding apply frameworks which, if

misunderstood or inappropriately applied, can result in ‘forcing’ of the data (Bryant,

2002; Charmaz, 2006; Glaser, 1992; Lowe, 1996). For reasons of researcher

inexperience, and in acknowledgment of the concerns raised regarding their efficacy,

neither axial nor theoretical coding was applied in this thesis research.

Constant comparison This coding and conceptualisation process is assisted in all

phases by the constant comparison method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). This process is

the basis of the grounded theory method, and involves the comparison of data with

other data to generate analytical categories. Here the researcher compares incidents

to incidents to generate categories; categories to incidents to elaborate, verify,

saturate and generate further categories; and categories to categories to establish

which best fit and work with the phenomenon under investigation (Charmaz, 2000;

Glaser, 2004). That is, the empirical categories generated through open coding are

compared to generate the analytical categories used in focused coding. These

analytical categories are compared with other empirical codes to further synthesise

codes and explore links between codes and categories. Finally categories are

compared to elaborate and theorise on their links and place within the developing

theory.

This coding and comparison process continues until the categories are saturated.

Saturation has been reached when the researcher has sufficiently elaborated and

integrated the core concept of each category, its properties and its theoretical


connections to other relevant categories, and no new information or concepts appear

(Charmaz, 1983; Glaser, 2004; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lowe, 1996). Constant

comparison therefore relies on the development of a conceptual understanding of

categories of data that can be rigorously tested against other data and other

categories to determine the overall usefulness of the developing concepts and the

theory that binds them. It is in this way that the resultant theory remains grounded in

the data, as it is comparison with data that ultimately determines the usefulness of

the theory.

Theoretical memos Memos are a key element in driving the conceptualisation

process that is required of constant comparison (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Memos

help to keep track of categories, properties and the relations between incidents, as

well as operating as an outlet for the researcher to record their thoughts and ideas on

the data during the coding process (Glaser, 1978). Memoing begins early in the data

analysis and, like coding, becomes more focused as the categories and their

relationships become clearer (Charmaz, 2006; Lowe, 1996). That is, memoing is

essentially a note-taking process that tracks the theory as it develops through the

procedures of constant comparison.

Theoretical sensitivity The analytical process of grounded theory, of coding,

comparison and memoing, is assisted through all phases by the theoretical sensitivity

of the researcher. Theoretical sensitivity is the ability to recognise the subtleties of

meaning in data and the skill to be able to penetrate those levels of meaning (Lowe,

1996). Whilst the grounded theory method was designed to remove the research

focus from a pre-defined theoretical framework or the verification of hypotheses

(Glaser, 1978), literature is used to enhance the researcher’s theoretical sensitivity.

Theoretical sensitivity can also be developed through professional and personal

experience that exposes the researcher to multiple layers of representation (Strauss &

Corbin, 1998). This sensitivity assists in mobilising the creativity of the researcher,

aids the analytical process of constant comparison and can highlight pre-existing

conceptual categories that support and become part of the data as their conceptual

role emerges (Glaser, 1978; Lowe, 1996; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). That is,

theoretical sensitivity is not about immersion in related literature, but instead

requires being open to the theoretical possibilities this literature represents that can


help advance the developing theory (Charmaz, 2006). For this thesis research a range

of theoretical areas and personal experiences were used to develop theoretical

sensitivity. The overview of the context in Chapter Three and theoretical framework

in Chapter Four will provide an outline of some of this sensitising material.

Evaluating grounded theory Theory generated through the grounded theory

approach is evaluated using four measures. The first of these is the ability of the

theory to ‘fit’; that is to conceptually explain the data (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The

second is that it ‘works’; in that the generated theory is able to explain behaviour in

the area under study. Third, is whether the theory generated is ‘relevant’; in that it

should be understandable to theorists and lay readers alike. Finally, generated theory

may be ‘modifiable’, accounting for and capable of incorporating variation

(Charmaz, 2000; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lowe, 1996).

Charmaz (2006) also proposes that grounded theories be evaluated by their

credibility, originality, resonance and usefulness. In that the data analysis has been

carried out in a rigorous manner, which discovers new insights that make sense

within the theoretical and physical context, and can ultimately contribute to policy

and practice. Situating grounded theories within their social and historical contexts

in seen as one means through which to aid the evaluation of their credibility and

usefulness (Charmaz, 2006; Layder, 1993). This contextual framing also assists in

determining future application potential, as context can be used to determine

similarities and differences between cases, and thus aide comparisons to other

studies (Charmaz, 2006). Maintaining the ‘voices’ of respondents within the theory

itself, to add richness to the abstracted categories, is proposed as a means to enhance

resonance and indicate credibility (Charmaz, 2006). Both of these strategies have

been applied in this thesis research as a means of assisting the evaluation process.

This section has outlined the theoretical background to the procedures of grounded

theory, theoretical sampling, coding and constant comparison, and the tracking of

this process through memos. The role of theoretical sensitivity, and the manner in

which the resultant grounded theory is evaluated have also been described. The

following sections will describe how these procedures were applied to the collection

and analysis of data for this thesis research.


The application of grounded theory: Data collection

Data collection in grounded theory is not presupposed by the methodology; instead

these methods are shaped by both the research problem, and the developing theory.

The types of data collected for this thesis research were interviews, open-ended

questionnaires, documents, and photography. These data types were chosen because

they enabled access to information from a range of stakeholders, including research

site residents and business owners, real estate developers and tourism marketers, and

thus incorporated a range of perspectives regarding the problem of interest.

Collecting data through multiple methods also enhances opportunities for

conceptualisation, by enabling comparisons of data from stakeholder groups

expressed through different mediums. For example, newspaper articles provided data

from West End residents and business owners that was able to be compared with

questionnaire and interview data from these same stakeholder groups. This not only

broadened the sample of resident opinions, but also provided a contrast between

those that were publicly expressed through a medium with an established ideology,

and those privately expressed in response to particular research questions. This

contrast helped to highlight the discursive influence of media representations, and

the tendency of the media overall to adopt binary viewpoints that did not necessarily

reflect the broader range of resident opinions.

Data was collected in two phases during the period from August 2003 through to

August 2007, following the processes of theoretical sampling. The key data

collection period, during which the questionnaires and interviews were conducted,

ran from April 2005 until January 2006. The collection of relevant media reports

began in August 2003 when the researcher’s interest in the topic was first aroused,

and was continued throughout the data collection and initial writing up period, as

issues of relevance continued to be discussed in the mainstream press. The

remainder of this section outlines the specific methods used to collect each type of

data.

Documents Over two hundred newspapers articles, public notices and marketing

publications were collected for this thesis research. Newspaper articles from West

End area and metropolitan papers, real estate and property developers’ promotional

material and community organisation publications provided evidence of the wider


discourses of urban renewal and its perceived physical and social effects on the

research site.

Newspaper and marketing documentation presented an obvious starting point for this

research. The continuing population growth in South East Queensland (SEQ) and

Brisbane, and concerns regarding the management of this process, meant that

questions about residential development and growth in general were rarely out of the

metropolitan and West End area media. Data collection occurred during the public

consultation period and final release of two relevant urban planning documents, the

SEQ Regional Plan and the West End—Woolloongabba Local Area Plan, both of

which received media coverage. The collection of articles and editorials from

newspapers allowed for the tracking of the public discourse related to these planning

documents, and the associated urban renewal issues. It also highlighted the complex

layers of meaning and representation involved in the development and promotion of

West End as a ‘renewed’ geographical location and community. This is discussed as

an element of the context in Chapter Three.

Newspaper articles were collected manually from two independently owned West

End area newspapers,2 The Westender and West End Neighbourhood News, and the

Quest (News Limited) published community newspaper, the Southern News

(relaunched as the City South News in February 2006). Database searches were used

to access relevant articles from the metropolitan daily newspaper, The Courier Mail,

its weekend companion, the Sunday Mail and the Brisbane community newspapers,

the City News and Brisbane News (all News Limited owned). All newspapers had

circulation and distribution within the research site. Database searches used key

word searches in the Factiva3 database, using urban renewal, the suburb name and

inner city development as search terms.

2 Both newspapers ceased physical publication during the research period and became available only online, where they were not consistently updated. As this change significantly restricted their readership, their discursive influence was considerably reduced. For this reason they were no longer considered as data sources. 3 Factiva is a database of news items collated by Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive. It provides fulltext access to significant news items from almost 8000 international sources and 9000 internet sites and includes more than 100 Australasian sources. Coverage includes articles from newspapers, news wires, press


Document collection was reduced in the later stages of the research, owing to

significant repetition within many of these data sources as a result of the shared

ownership and thus journalistic resources, and rapid saturation of key categories

relating to this contextual information. Newspaper articles collected in the later

stages were included only when deemed to particularly exemplify or expand on

certain concepts.

The newspaper articles collected can be categorised into three types: ‘hard’ news

articles, ‘soft’ lifestyle type articles, and ‘advertorial’ type real estate articles. These

categories were not distinct, and an article often contained more than one element,

such as ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ reporting, or ‘advertorial’ type pieces supported by ‘soft’

lifestyle reporting. ‘Hard’ news articles particularly focused on the release of the

SEQ Regional Plan and the West End—Woolloongabba Local Plan, providing

details of plan content, political support and opinion, public and business reaction.

‘Hard’ news articles also more generally discussed the population growth of SEQ

and the potential implications. ‘Soft’ lifestyle type articles generally focused on the

benefits of inner city living, often featuring new inner city residents talking about

their reasons for relocating, and aspects of their lifestyle. Whilst the majority of the

‘soft’ articles were positive, particularly those from the News Limited published

newspapers, some took a position that negatively linked lifestyle behaviours to

consumption processes. These negative pieces more commonly occurred in the West

End area newspapers. The final category of articles was from real estate sections,

and typically reported on a particular real estate developer or development. Whilst

not advertorials in the true sense; these articles generally reported positively on the

features of an individual development, including pricing, investment potential, and

possible rental returns. They also incorporated elements of the ‘soft’ lifestyle

reporting, highlighting the benefits of inner city living. These advertorial type

newspaper reports had a strong promotional aspect to them, and often worked to

complement the advertising material of newly released developments.

Marketing data was collected from proposed developments within the research site

boundaries, through real estate agents and display apartments. Through their

releases, company announcements and journals; and daily pictures from Reuters and Knight Ridder.


portrayal of particular developments and their location, these documents provided

insights on the desired target demographic for the development projects, the

developer’s perception of the research site, and through the portrayal of the potential

behaviours and attractions of the area, the developer’s understanding of the

perception of the assumed target demographic.

Photographs Photographs were initially collected as a means of providing a visual

record of elements that may not have been documented in verbal or written data.

Photographs enable the tracking of change in spatial types and in relationships

between people and products and, according to Arnould (1998), are valuable for

recording behavioural expressions of social division or integration that may be taken

for granted by the researcher and the informants. As a data collection method,

photographs were most useful in creating a visual record of the expression of

individual and community attitudes, such as through graffiti, and business notice

boards. They also provided an important means of capturing the everyday type

consumption practices that, due to their familiarity, risked being overlooked or

downplayed by respondents and through analysis. For example, photographs of

people shopping together and on foot highlighted the public nature of these everyday

consumption experiences and pointed to the contribution the activity of shopping

makes to an individual’s public identity. These photographs also complemented the

images used by development and tourism marketing to promote inner city lifestyles,

allowing comparison between the idealised behaviours marketing imagery represents

and the more everyday practices captured by the researcher.

Of 120 photographs taken in the first round of fieldwork from October 2003 to

September 2005, approximately 20 were used in final analysis. Many of these

photographs were taken in sequence, thus capturing one incident in a number of

ways. Yet for analytical purposes, a sequence of photos said much the same as one,

resulting in a decrease in useful data. Many of these initial photos focused on

changes in spatial structure, such as building developments, the opening and closing

of small businesses, the disruption caused by road works. Whilst such sequences

recorded elements of context, they added little to the development of categories for

analysis, as many of the physical changes were highlighted consistently through

other data sources. Indeed, these photographic choices, and their subsequent lack of


value, generally reflect the focus of the thesis research at the time. Prior the

distribution of the questionnaire in April 2005, the investigation was still chiefly

focused on issues of context that are outlined in Chapter Three. As questionnaire

data returned and analysis progressed, contextual issues gave way to a focus on the

actions and interactions of identity building. Photographic choices within the second

round of data collection were made with more documentary purposes in mind and

particularly focused on public expressions of identity assumptions—such as through

graffiti—rather than public behaviours. Many of those second round photographs

have been included in this thesis document for illustrative purposes.

The ethical limitations that photographs present were a restrictive influence on the

initial photographic focus and drove the progression toward the documentation of

publicly expressed opinions in the later stages. Photography can present a threat to

anonymity, and in attempting to capture candid social behaviour or crowd situations

obtaining informed consent can be difficult. Visual ethnologists suggest these

limitations be considered with the needs, wants and cultural perspectives of the

subjects as the main concern (Banks, 2001; Harper, 1998; Pink, 2007). For these

reasons, photographs that included people were taken in public situations, such as in

the context of the streetscape, servicescapes and consumption experiences that are

open to general observation. In these circumstances photographs capture behaviours

that the subject has already consented to be available for public scrutiny, and it was

felt that this was generally acceptable, even without informed consent. With respect

for the failure to gain consent, no photographs containing people have been included

within this thesis document.

Some photographs taken in this manner were excluded from analysis when it was

felt they might be intrusive or disrespectful to the subjects. This was generally the

case when the behaviour captured could be considered transgressive, such as the use

of public space for ‘unacceptable’ private activities, or when they included activities

of disadvantaged people. This decision is a reflection of the cultural and ethical

beliefs of the researcher, particularly concerns with power relations and the potential

for misrepresentation of demographic groups that are often considered powerless.

Yet it is recognised that this well-meaning action may have worked to perpetuate

such powerlessness, by excluding or downplaying the potential contribution from


these groups. This shall be discussed further with regard to the limitations of the

thesis research later in this chapter.

Questionnaires The questionnaire was introduced as a data collection method in

April 2005, drawing on initial coding from documents and photographs. This was in

recognition of the time-consuming nature of the grounded theory method and the

need to gather data on the broader range of consumption experiences individuals

were exposed to, and engaged with, within the West End area. The questionnaire

was a valuable tool for garnering opinions on the identity of the West End area and

the activities that occurred there from a range of residents and some visitors. All

questions were open-ended, encouraging respondents to write as much or little as

they wished in each circumstance. Whilst some respondents gave limited answers,

many elaborated considerably on the questions asked, providing anecdotes about

their consumption experiences and their reasons for engaging in and valuing them.

This unexpected rumination provided data of considerable depth and significantly

assisted in the development of the categories for analysis. Data that was gathered

from non-residents generally lacked the richness of detail compared to data from

resident respondents. This is not surprising given the level of attachment to the West

End communityscape that was evident in most resident data. The full questionnaire

has been included in Appendix 1. It covered the following areas of interest:

• Relationship to the research site; covering residents, business owners and visitors

and exploring length of time lived or worked in or visited region, and reasons for

both initially coming to and staying.

• Impressions of the research site; covering knowledge of and opinions on

elements of the research site, including businesses, public facilities and open

space within the area.

• Activities whilst within the research site; covering consumption activities, their

location and the reasons for choosing those locations.

• Urban renewal project in the research site. Respondents were asked if they were

aware of the project, and if so to offer opinions on its effect on the area as a

whole and on their own activities.


Convenience and snowballing methods were used to recruit questionnaire

respondents. This included approaching contacts within the social networks of the

researcher, and through ‘advertising’ for interested persons on street notice boards.

Initial contacts led to snowballing, with most respondents forwarding an email

version of the questionnaire to at least one other person. In one circumstance a

resident known to the researcher emailed the questionnaire to his entire sports team.

Some of these recipients passed it on to other acquaintances until the questionnaire

had been forwarded to over 100 people in the sports club and then on to members of

a choir. Response rates from this distribution method were not high at approximately

10%, but it did assist in distribution to a greater range of people than would have

been possible through the researcher’s social network or noticeboards.

Questionnaires were also distributed to the letterboxes of residents of two specific

developments, with a 15% response rate. This was an attempt to gather information

from residents perceived to be of a different demographic to those whom had already

responded.

In total, twenty-two returned questionaries where suitable for analysis. Of these

68.2% of respondents were female, 31.8% male and 77.2% were West End area

residents. The age of respondents ranged from 21–57, with a median age of 32.5.

Respondents who indicated they lived in the research site came from a range of

ethnic backgrounds, including Greek, Japanese, Chinese and Anglo Saxon. The

occupations of resident respondents can be broadly classified in three groups—

students, small business owners and professional occupations, particularly those that

could be classified as part of the creative class (Florida, 2002); education,

technology and communication, planning and architecture. As ‘types’ of people were

not of interest to this thesis research, respondents have not been classified as

‘pioneering’ gentrifiers, or as more recent ‘followers’ (Ley, 1996), despite that some

may in fact be so. These are classifications primarily based on length of residence,

which ranged from seven months to 26 years. Yet neither length of residence nor

age appeared to have a significant influence on a resident respondent’s likelihood to

support or disagree with the urban renewal activities. Quotations from questionnaire

respondents will be identified within this thesis document by gender and age only.

All questionnaire respondents from whom quotations have been included were West

End area residents.


Interviews Semi-structured interviews were used to clarify and expand on

categories as per the principles of theoretical sampling. In all, 12 interviews were

conducted with 11 different subjects, resulting in approximately four hours of

interview data. Ten of those interviews were tape recorded and transcribed by the

researcher; for one of these interviews the analysis used notes made from the

recording rather than a full transcription due to poor recording quality. One

interview was conducted via email after difficulties in arranging a time for either

face to face or telephone communication; the remainder were conducted face to face.

The majority of these interviews took place in the final stages of the data collection,

from October 2005 to January 2006. One interview that focused on contextual issues

occurred very early in the data collection phase, in March 2005.

Six of the interview respondents were chosen according to the principles of

theoretical sampling, for the insight their specific expertise offered for category

development and saturation. They included three small business owners, a manager

of an outdoor market, a representative from the State Government planning

department, and a tourism marketer. The length of these six interviews ranged from

twenty minutes to over an hour. Three of the remaining respondents were sampled

through an intercept method at one specific research site, in this case to clarify a

specific concept. The final interviewee responded to the questionnaire ‘advertising’

and requested an interview rather than written questionnaire format. This interview

was not taped, and the data was considered with questionnaire data for comparison

purposes. The email interview was conducted with a City Council representative,

regarding a particular area of Council policy.

A semi-structured method was followed for all face to face interviews, with basic

questions formulated prior to each interview depending on both the developing

theory and the specific area of expertise of the respondent. Probing was used to

follow new areas of interest that arose during the interview itself. A standardised

interview guide was not developed, as specific questions varied across interviews;

but general areas of discussion for business owners included their approach to

running their business, their means of judging the success of their business, their

customer service approach including the treatment of regular customers, and their

perception of their place or role within the greater communityscape.


The four key interviews were conducted with three business owners and one

business manager, who were seen to be using their businesses to encourage social

interaction and network connections. Two of these businesses were bars,4 one was

well established in the area, and the other opened late in the data collection phase.

The third business was a small café, whose community building activities inspired

this thesis research. The final key interview was conducted with the manager of an

outdoor market. As a servicescape, the market provided an interesting contrast to the

more controlled physical elements of the bars and café. Markets ultimately contain a

range of miniature servicescapes within a greater servicescape, are thus influenced

by a greater range of stakeholders, and can make a wider range of value offerings.

The breadth of the market’s value offering, and its location in a park, also meant it

appealed to a broader demographic than the other businesses that are discussed here.

Data from these four interviews will be drawn on extensively in Chapter Six and

identified as with the marker of key interview.

This section has outlined the specific data collection methods used for this research,

as it evolved from the collection of media reports, to a specific focus on the activities

of West End area small business owners. The following section outlines how the

coding and analysis process drove this progression.

The application of grounded theory: Coding and conceptualisation

This section outlines the specific manner in which the grounded theory procedures of

coding through constant comparison, and the memoing process that tracks the

developing categories, were applied in this thesis research. As noted, the procedures

of grounded theory mean that data collection and analysis occur simultaneously.

Thus, whilst the data collection and analysis procedures are described in a somewhat

chronological manner, the process was in fact more circular, moving between data

collection to analysis and memos. This process became more focused as the

processes of identity assumption became more apparent, in line with the procedures

of theoretical sampling and focused coding.

4 The respondents shall be identified by their business. Bar owner 1 is from the established bar, and bar owner 2, from the new addition.


Open coding The initial coding was of newspaper articles collected in late 2003

and 2004, and of an interview conducted with a representative of the State

Government planning body conducted in March 2005. The coding of this early data

highlighted the need for a broader range of in-depth data from Brisbane residents

regarding the West End area from which to make more useful comparisons. This led

to the distribution of the questionnaire in April 2005.

Open coding began in earnest with the return of questionnaire data. Notes were made

in the margins of printed documents, summarising data and exploring action,

relationships and the usage of space. Non-text items such as photographs were coded

by examining the actors, the spaces and the behaviours depicted and then working to

conceptualise the relationships between these. Added layers of meaning, such as if

the image was part of development marketing, were also recorded. A basic template

was developed to maintain consistency in this process, but was abandoned as

photography took on a more illustrative role, as previously described.

The questionnaires also provided ample opportunity for comparison driven coding.

Standard questions enabled comparison between respondent answers, and between

types of answers according to types of respondents (such as residents and non

residents). Data on impressions of the West End area and perceived impacts of urban

renewal were compared with newspaper and marketing representations of the area

and of urban renewal. This first round of open coding was performed at a very basic

level, which chiefly aimed to summarise elements of the data empirically, and to

note reoccurring aspects that could form the basis of data categories. Yet the quality

of the questionnaire data in particular, enabled the development of a number of

useful categories that were seen fit to investigate through further analysis and data

collection.

The key reoccurring code highlighted through the comparative analysis of

questionnaire data was the notion of a symbolic ‘local’ identity. Residents

particularly used terms like ‘local’ to describe categories of people and businesses,

that were then attributed certain kinds of behaviour. It was also used in discussions

of perceived impacts of urban renewal, as a way of describing the identity of others,

as in ‘not from here’. The category of local was adopted to describe an identity that

is attributed, adopted and experienced by residents (and some non-residents), with


localness used to describe the experience of being recognised or assumed to be local.

Other concepts, such as meaningful interaction within specific businesses, an

emotional attachment to the communityscape, and an appreciation of its diversity

and the range of opportunities this offered were also evident and suggested further

areas of investigation.

Focused coding Uncovering initial categories for investigation enables a

reanalysis of existing data in a more focused manner. This was assisted by the use of

‘gerund’ coding names, recommended as a means of focusing on action and

interaction, and raising concepts above the descriptive level (Charmaz, 2000, 2006;

Glaser, 1978). Thus, meaningful interaction occurring within servicescapes was

synthesised with other descriptions of consumption experiences in a category of

experiencing value, which was then able to be categorised as being constructed of

certain types of value, drawing on Holbrook’s (1999c) typology of consumer value.

Within contexts recognised as being local, the seeking out of certain value

experiences could be seen as a means of assuming a local identity, thus relating the

properties of the category of experiencing value with the category of localness.

As these categories developed, the possibility of exploring the ways in which

businesses could encourage these identity defining value experiences became of

interest. Through focused coding and further sampling, it was possible to explore

and elaborate on the notion of localness, and investigate apparent links between the

described interaction in servicescapes, and the way these servicescapes were

subsequently valued or identified as being local. This involved returning to

questionnaires and documents, where respondents described their use of and attitude

towards small business. It also led to interviews with small business owners who

appeared to be encouraging such processes. This new data was coded in a more

focused manner, looking for information that clarified the processes of identity

definition, including how individuals ‘took on’ their ‘local’ identity, and what

markers or behaviours they used to assume or attribute a ‘local’ or ‘non-local’

identity to others. This data was analysed with an eye to uncovering actions and

interactions that could be replicated and thus formulated to offer practical

suggestions for small businesses seeking to assist customers in assuming a local

identity.


Memos Arriving at these categories was not a straightforward process, with much

moving back and forward between data, coding, and memos as categories developed,

were elaborated and linked. The process of memo writing began very early in the

research, as a means of recording progress, organisational techniques and thoughts

generated from conversations, observations and the analysis process. Memos were

also written based on initial interpretations of data, such as interviews or the

comparison of questionnaire sections.

Early memos were often descriptive, summarising data, or ‘talking around’ emerging

categories rather than naming and conceptualising them. As analysis progressed, and

gerund terms were introduced, memo writing became more focused and more

effective at drawing links between data and concepts, and between concepts. Later

memos were used to synthesise codes and categories to conceptualise their

relationships and properties. For example, theoretical links were drawn between

assumptions made regarding the identity of others, the consumption experiences they

are presumed to value, and the stereotypes of urban renewal and ‘yuppies’, to the

broader theoretical binary of ‘community’ and ‘society’, as will be discussed in

Chapter Three.

Memos were recorded by hand and electronically, according to which was most

convenient at the time. It was initially intended to complete the coding and analysis

process using NVivo software but this was found to be problematic. Limited access

during early data collection, its inherent incompleteness, due to hard-copy media

reports and photographs that were not in electronic format, and a perceived

separation between the researcher and the electronically stored data, meant that

NVivo was not used to its full capabilities. It was also felt that NVivo limited the

open coding process, due to the requirement for node folders in which to code data.

That is, the nature of the program requires some predetermination of coding

categories and can work to restrict the creative process of coding. Ultimately, the

inability to ‘scribble in the margins’ lead to the abandonment of computer aided

analysis.

Instead, coding was performed by hand on printed documents, and memos were

transferred into an electronic format. All memos and data were then recorded in an

Excel spreadsheet using systematic identifiers. This enabled the tracking of relations


between data, memos and categories, with memo identifiers recorded next to the data

that informed it, and links between memos made evident as they were synthesised

through into the resultant theory. This sorting and integration of memos continued

into the writing up stages, as suggested by Charmaz (2006), where the ordering

process of thesis writing is used to further integrate categories.

This section has described the process of coding and conceptualisation that followed

the data to develop an understanding of the practices of ‘local’ identity definition.

Open and focused coding, guided by constant comparison and recorded through

memos, highlighted the manner in which consumption experiences within

servicescapes enabled respondents to make assumptions regarding identity, both

their own, and that of others.

Limitations of this thesis research

A number of limitations exist within this thesis research that impact on its rigour and

usefulness. These primarily relate to sample selection, and the interpretative

influence of the researcher as resident.

Whilst the grounded theory procedure of theoretical sampling is designed so that

data choices are led by the emerging theory, rather than by the requirements of

comparative representation, it must be acknowledged that the design and focus of

this research has resulted in the exclusion of certain groups of people and types of

activity. The delimitation placed on this thesis—to focus on the consumption

practices implicated by urban renewal—can be seen to exclude those who do not

have the means to engage in these practices, and this is evident in the research

sample. Questionnaire respondents, although ranging in age and occupation, could

be broadly described as middle class. Whilst most of the ethnic groups who were

resident in the area were represented, there were no Indigenous respondents, and

indeed a decision was made to exclude photographic data that captured an incident

of public consumption by a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, for

ethical reasons. Attempts were made to counter this limitation by including

servicescapes with broad demographic and economic appeal, such as the market.

Focusing on interaction, particularly the manner in which it spreads between public

and private space, also highlighted ways in which these servicescape based processes


can extend outside of consumer activities, to include non-consumers. Overall, these

exclusions were deemed an acceptable consequence of a delimitation that allowed

this thesis research to focus on an aspect of urban renewal that is under-explored in

gentrification research. Concerns regarding the social exclusion and displacement

that can result from urban renewal processes are, on the other hand, a common

feature of gentrification research (e.g., Fried, 2000; Ley, 1996; Smith, 1992, 1996;

Zukin, 1987).

A second limitation evident within this research is the status of the researcher as a

resident of the research site. It was originally intended to include participant

observation as a research method, to capitalise on this presence and account for the

interpretative influence in a systematic manner. However, a failure to clearly

delineate between observation research notes and memoing reduced the rigor of

these observations as data. It was perhaps unreasonable to expect, as an

inexperienced researcher, that this level of separation could be maintained. Instead,

the insights offered by residential status became an important aspect of developing

the theoretical sensitivity that informs the conceptualisation of data through

theoretical memos. In this way, participant observation instead became a process of

participant theorising. Unformed concepts arising from data were able to be tested

through actual experience, and built into the memoing process. This also allowed a

creative freedom in observation based memos that is encouraged as vital to tolerate

the confusion of conceptualisation through the grounded theory method (Charmaz,

2000; Lowe, 1996). This process in particular worked to highlight the interpretative

influence of researcher as resident, and the subjective nature of consumption

experiences overall. Ultimately, whilst perhaps working to exclude certain informal

aspects of data gathering that may have expedited category saturation, the participant

theorising that resulted instead added depth to the personal journey this research

represented.

Conclusion

This chapter has described the procedures of the constructivist approach to grounded

theory, and the manner of its application to the problem of interest to this thesis


research. In recognition of the concerns regarding a lack of rigor and transparency in

the use of grounded theory in business research (Suddaby, 2006), the format of this

chapter, and this thesis overall, has been constructed to provide an evaluative

framework for this thesis research—according to its credibility, originality,

resonance and usefulness (Charmaz, 2006).

Furthermore, this chapter has sought to explicitly outline the procedures of and

approach to grounded theory used within this thesis research to assist in establishing

its credibility as a piece of research. This includes outlining the reasoning behind the

decision to apply the grounded theory method, a description of the procedures of

theoretical sampling, coding, constant comparison, and memoing, and the specific

means of their application to the collection and analysis of data through documents,

photographs, questionnaires and interviews.

Assessments of originality, resonance and usefulness are best made through an

evaluation of the grounded theory itself, but can be assisted by elements of the

constructivist grounded theory process as highlighted above. These include strategies

of writing that retain the ‘voices’ of respondents and a sense of the richness of the

data, and provide insight into the relevance of the story constructed. To add to this

richness, key quotations and visual material that inspired the direction of this work

or explicitly summarise elements, have been included in this thesis document.

Embedding the research within its social and historical context is also seen as a

means of informing determinations of resonance and usefulness, including guiding

the determination of future application potential. It is this social and historical

context that is the subject of Chapter Three. This has been included at this stage in

this document to provide insight as to how specific contextual issues guided the

focus of this research, including the delimitation decision discussed above, to more

closely reflect the evolution of the grounded theory of assuming a ‘local’ identity

through consumption experiences in servicescapes.

Chapter Three: Living in the City 36

Chapter Three

The Research Context: Living in the City

It’s clinging on to a cherished era. And struggles with acceptance of a

future plan. Most people cannot accept change too easily and I feel

it’s associated with fear, perhaps some people moved here to be close

to the city and enjoy a quiet, or hippie type neighbourhood for

example. The risk of losing that has possibly ruined their plans for the

future or the way they choose to live. I have seen communal

backstabbing and hatred for development and also a yearning for a

more cosmopolitan lifestyle. My opinion is that any inner city suburb

is going to be expensive to live in, great to socialise in, and is also

good for business and Brisbane itself. But care must be taken to keep

its identity and embrace the growth of population at the same time.

Those who oppose must think what are they opposed to and how

much they value the life they choose to live (Questionnaire: male,

30).

The process of urban renewal can have significant social and economic, as well as

physical, impacts on the effected areas, as this quote suggests. This can lead to

tension—between new and old residents, and between those who support, and those

who oppose the changes that urban renewal investment brings. Some may see

potential for a balance between the idea of a local community, and the broader

cosmopolitan opportunities offered by a more global view. Others, however, may see

this as a destruction of the community aspects they hold dear. Like this respondent,

this thesis research suggests that there is potential in the ‘middle ground’, where

notions of community, sociality, consumption practices and the market meet. This

chapter works to provide a contextual framework for this exploration, providing a

background to the research findings of this thesis, by situating them within the

context of the broader changes occurring in the city of Brisbane. The chapter also

draws on elements of this context to highlight how this guided the development of a


theoretical framework based on literature from marketing and consumer research

that is outlined in Chapter Four, and the subsequent research focus.

As noted in Chapter Two, situating grounded theories within their social, historical,

and interactional contexts is recommended in a constructivist approach as a means of

strengthening their theoretical and practical relevance (Charmaz, 2006; Layder,

1993). Traditional procedures of grounded theory propose that pre-existing

theoretical concepts that can frame and advance the evolving theory are made

apparent through data analysis (Glaser, 1978). Constructivist grounded theory

extends this, to allow macro concepts highlighted by context to also emerge, adding

depth to the analysis and to the resultant theory (Charmaz, 2006; Layder, 1993).

Within a constructivist approach to grounded theory, the incorporation of context is

also seen as a means of allowing for a clearer assessment of the generality of the

theory, its potential for application in similar contexts, and its broader theoretical

implications (Charmaz, 2006). Thus exploring and incorporating the greater context

of change in Brisbane’s built environment and lifestyle offering can help to

strengthen the originality and resonance of this thesis research, grounded in the West

End area experience, and work to broaden the theoretical relevance of its findings.

This chapter outlines the changes occurring in the built environment and lifestyle

offering of Brisbane, and the West End area, to provide this contextual background,

and indicate how this background informed the final grounded theory. Drawing on

newspaper reports, marketing and policy documents, photographs and data from

questionnaire respondents, the chapter will first describe the physical changes in

Brisbane, driven by population growth but reflective of restructuring processes

occurring in many post-industrial cities, and outline the associated discourse of a

‘new liveability’ that has accompanied and been used to support and promote these

changes. This will be followed by a description of the responses to these shifts,

focusing particularly on the West End area, and the oppositional perspective to the

‘new liveability’ discourse that was evident there. This contextual discussion is

positioned within the literature of gentrification, which despite ongoing debates

regarding its ability to encompass broad contexts such this (Atkinson, 2003; Smith &

Butler, 2007), remains the ‘natural’ home for studies of urban renewal. More

specifically, the negative associations of gentrification; displacement and


commodification of diversity, were clearly implicated as a concern through the

popular discourses, and are thus seen to require consideration.

An ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ Context

The context of this thesis research is an inner city suburb facing change in the form

of urban renewal; a process that is in itself is a part of a broader set of changes

underway in the city of Brisbane. For this research, this process of change acted as a

catalyst, bringing the emotions and attachments of West End residents to the fore.

Whilst urban renewal is not a new process in Brisbane, or the West End area, the

activities in the research site can be said to have reached a critical point, where the

physical, social and symbolic implications are increasingly evident and the responses

increasingly complex and contradictory, as the opening quote suggests. Physically,

this change comes through population increases and the building of a number of new

medium density apartment and townhouse developments to house these new

residents. Socially there is an implication of a shift in the basic demographic of the

area, with new housing stock targeted at an affluent middle class, the presence of

whom was previously less evident. On a more symbolic level, these urban renewal

activities are positioned both as offering a new urban lifestyle, and as threatening the

local lifestyle that already exists.

On a symbolic level particularly, this can lead to the construction of an ‘us’ and

‘them’ binary, which positions the already established local lifestyle as authentic,

and at risk from idealised constructions of a new urban lifestyle. This positioning can

be seen as a reflection of broader binaries that have come to be associated with a

perception of ‘community lost’, most clearly through Tonnies (1971 [1957])

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (community and society) construct (Wellman, 1979)

which has further been extrapolated into the rural/urban (Savage & Warde, 1993),

and in a global (capitalist) context, into the local/global dichotomy (Smith, 2001).

Whilst acknowledging that these binaries, and their association in this manner,

clearly simplifies complex theories and contexts (Featherstone, 1991; Giddens,

1986; Savage & Warde, 1993; Smith, 2001; Urry, 1995), in a generalised way these

binaries can be seen to relate to the same underlying construction of an


rational/objective/instrumental ‘them’, that is positioned in opposition to the

instinctive/subjective/emotional ‘us’. The emancipation from the bonds of

community that the society of the city offers is not necessarily seen as a ‘bad thing’

(Lees, 2004). Drawing on the work of Simmel (1950 [1903]), the freedom of the city

is seen to offer the opportunity to be individual, a key element of the project of

modernism (Featherstone, 1991). That this freedom ‘to’ take charge of one’s destiny

has subsequently come to be associated with a freedom to consume (Firat &

Dholakia, 1998), points to the cyclical nature of the binary. Ultimately it is a

symbiotic relationship, where a generalised ‘them’, be it global capital,

individualistic consumption or soulless cities, becomes the ‘stranger’ (Simmel, 1950

[1908]) and something against which to define the collective identity of ‘us’; as

Maffesoli notes “experiencing the other is the basis of community, even if it leads to

conflict” (1996, p. 73).

This opposition, between the local ‘us’ of community and the global ‘them’ of the

city, is a powerful popular discourse and tool for identity definition within the

context in which this thesis research was conducted. It can be seen in constructions

of the lifestyle of the inner city as one of freedom, and the reactive responses that see

this as self-interested and isolating; in the construction of certain types of

consumption as shallow, and others as authentic; and in the positioning of policy and

capital driven urban renewal activities as destructive of existing community

connections and identity. What is also evident is the search for the middle ground, as

highlighted in the quote that opened this chapter and the practices of the business

owner who inspired this research. It is also evident in the marketing attempts to

balance Brisbane’s new lifestyle offerings with its old ‘country town’ ways through

a discourse of ‘new liveability’, and the positioning of inner city developments, as

‘urban villages’ that exemplify this new possibility. This chapter is concerned with

highlighting the extremes, as a manner of clarifying what led this thesis to apply a

perspective from marketing and consumer research that encourages a greater focus

on a middle ground.


‘Cinderella City’:5 The ‘new liveability’ of Brisbane

Not long ago Brisbane was dead, but now it is being referred to as

Australia’s most liveable city for good reason. Restaurant and cafe

society is well established and the vibrant entertainment and 24 hour

nightlife, seven days a week is second to none. So, step aside New

York; Brisbane is the new, up-and-coming city (The Courier Mail,

16th October 2004, p.103 Home).

This research was conducted in the inner city suburb of West End, in Brisbane,

Australia’s third largest city. Brisbane is the state capital of Queensland and forms

the centre of the growing Queensland mega-city that stretches from the Gold Coast

in the south, to the Sunshine Coast in the north. This area, known as South East

Queensland (SEQ), has been identified as one of the fastest growing urban areas in

the Western world, attracting an average of 55,000 new residents each year over the

past two decades (Office of Urban Management, 2005). Government projections of

the SEQ population in 2026 are 3,710,000, an addition of one million people to the

2006 population of 2,703,490 (adapted from Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007g;

Office of Urban Management, 2005).

This growth has been attributed to ongoing ‘sea-change’ and ‘sun-belt’ population

shifts (Salt, 2004). These shifts have their basis in a range of broader economic and

cultural changes, including the impacts of industrial decline in Sydney and

Melbourne from the 1970s, the superannuation funded retirement or downshifting of

the Baby Boomer generation, cheaper air travel and thus a greater potential for

mobility, and for a time a disproportionate affordability in east coast property

markets (Forster, 2004; Salt, 2004). Adding to this are the targeted ‘Smart State’

policies of the Queensland Government which are designed to encourage economic

growth through a focus on knowledge and innovation industries, increased

5 It is noteworthy that demographer Bernard Salt coined the ‘Cinderella City’ term in a publication commissioned by a property developer (Salt, 2005). This summarised the changes in Brisbane as a means of promoting a planned 80 level residential and business tower to be built in the Brisbane CBD.


productivity, underpinned by ongoing government and business investment, and a

desire to increase the profile of Queensland (Queensland Government, 2005).

This process is similar to broader patterns of post-industrial restructuring in cities

that aim to address a shift away from the ‘production’ associated with manufacturing

industries by repositioning themselves as cities of ‘consumption’ through a focus on

industries of culture and consumption (Featherstone, 1991; Zukin, 1995). As well as

focusing on investment in ‘knowledge’ and creative industries (Florida, 2002), these

strategies can include significant public and private investment in cultural facilities

with broad appeal, and the increasing use of place marketing campaigns, aimed at

tourism and business, that work to position these new amenities within the broader

identity of the city (Philo & Kearns, 1993; Urry, 1995), and ultimately to

differentiate that identity in an increasing market of global ‘cultural’ cities. A

common aspect of this marketing process is a gradual rewriting of aspects of the

city’s history and culture in line with current ‘idealised’ projections (Urry, 1995).

Brisbane was never a major manufacturing centre, unlike Sydney and Melbourne

(Forster, 2004). Yet global processes of economic restructuring and technological

advances, as well context specific factors such as increasing inner city traffic

congestion and the development of strategically placed industrial parks near ports

and motorways, has increasingly emptied inner city Brisbane of its industrial

elements.6 This has not only worked to shift traditional ‘working class’ employment

opportunities out of inner city areas, but also released inner city spaces for new uses,

such as housing developments (CSR Refinery in Teneriffe), and mixed-used

commercial, residential and business parks (Emporium, Fortitude Valley bus depot).

The ‘restructuring’ of Brisbane particularly follows the ‘creative class’ thesis of

Florida (2002), that sees cultural offerings (high and popular), opportunities for

outdoor activities and ‘knowledge industries’ as key factors for attracting people and

business investment (e.g., Brisbane City Council, 2006; Smart State Council, 2007).

Official Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council advertising campaigns

have supported and promoted this shift, drawing on the historical narratives of

6 Some of those industries that have not left for the suburbs have recently been publicly berated for taking up ‘valuable’ inner city space, e.g., former Lord Mayor Jim Soorley’s reproach of the Paul’s Milk facility in South Brisbane, in The Courier Mail, 11th August 2007, p. 12.


Brisbane’s character, the depict an evolving ‘liveable’ city. But more significantly,

Brisbane’s ‘new liveability’ has become an underlying discourse in the promotional

activities of property developers and the media, as is exemplified by the quote that

opened this section, and as will be discussed in more detail below.

Brisbane, it’s happening7

In Brisbane, this restructuring process has helped the city emerge from an identity

crisis that is fitting of the ‘Cinderella City’ descriptor. It is a rags to riches story oft

repeated in a fairy tale manner through marketing and the media (e.g., Brisbane

News, 18th February 2004, p. 8; City News, 6th October 2005, p. 18; Salt, 2005; The

Weekend Australian Magazine, 6th – 7th September 2003, pp. 22-29). This narrative

describes Brisbane as a city that was for many years derided as a ‘sleepy country

town’, the poor cousin of the more cultured southern capitals of Sydney and

Melbourne. This ‘sleepy town’ status was cemented in the ‘dark days’ of the Bjelke-

Petersen Government, when business and the arts fled8 the city for friendlier

southern or international climes, and reinforced through self-depreciating descriptors

such as ‘Brisvegas’ and ‘Brisneyland’. Current descriptions instead imply the sleepy

town has woken up. The accumulative impact of population growth, cultural and

economic investment—particularly within the CBD shopping and riverfront areas—

increased tourism and an increasingly global outlook has created a city now more

likely to be described as a thriving sub-tropical metropolis that is “recognised as

among the world’s most desirable destinations for leisure, business and lifestyle”

(Brisbane City Council, 2006, p. B).

Yet Brisbane has not completely abandoned its ‘sleepy town’ past. Indeed, the

palpable sense of relief that underlies much of the celebratory media discourse of

Brisbane’s ‘coming of age’ is in stark contrast to resident descriptions of Brisbane’s

attractions. Residents have described Brisbane’s liveability as founded on a “relaxed 7 A slogan used by Brisbane Marketing until late 2005 when it was deemed to no longer be relevant. It was noted by the tourism marketer interviewed that it is not cool to say that you are cool. 8 The move of the Bee Gees to London is often used as an example of this flight. Now the decision of Powderfinger to remain (and the success of Savage Garden!) becomes proof of Brisbane’s turnaround. Popular culture as cultural legitimacy is a significant undercurrent of the discourse.


lifestyle and community, laid-back, outdoors, not too big, friendly, diverse

community, small-town feel, good community services are close to home, housing is

affordable” (Brisbane City Council, 2006, p. 4); whilst media and marketing

promotion is more likely to position liveable Brisbane as “full of frenzied activity,

trend-setting styles and major new developments” (The Courier Mail, 16th October

2004, p. 103 Home). Whilst resident descriptions emphasise the value of more

ordinary and everyday activities and needs, the media representations increasingly

position the city as a site of extraordinary activities and opportunities that more

closely rely on consumer culture.

Attempts to balance these perspectives can be seen in the marketing activities

emanating from Brisbane City Council’s9 marketing arm, Brisbane Marketing, and

are also evident in the promotion activities of some developers. This involves a

careful blending of nostalgia for the laid back associations of the ‘sleepy town’

construction, with the extraordinary opportunities of Brisbane’s ‘new liveability’ in a

discourse that in striving for the middle ground, ultimately depicts something for

everyone:

Brisbane is a vibrant and modern metropolis that’s both energetic and

dynamic, yet relaxed and carefree … Big and bold, but never brash.

Chic and progressive, yet charming and polite. As modern as

tomorrow, yet still fiercely proud of its colonial heritage (Parklands

development marketing, 2003).

This newly liveable city is one that is “fresh, energetic, challenging” but also one

where “you can be who you want to be, there aren’t the stereotypes like there are in

other cities” (Interview: tourism marketer). That is, Brisbane is liveable because it is

“not just a sleepy little town” (Brisbane Marketing, n.d., emphasis added), but

because it has “something to offer all cultures, tastes, ages and interests. Our city

offers wining and dining, live music, great theatre, nightlife, shopping, family

activities and a sensational lifestyle” (Brisbane Magazine, 2006/2007, p. 8). By

9 The city of Brisbane is unique in Australia for its local government structure, with only one local council managing an area occupied by almost 1 million residents. As such, the Brisbane City Council is Australia’s largest local government municipality (Brisbane City Council, 2006). This provides a high level of control in the planning and management of urban renewal in Brisbane.


rewriting the narrative of its past, Brisbane is seeking to build an image of its future

that offers both the everyday localised activities of the country town and the

extraordinary emancipatory opportunities of the city. Yet this idealised construction

seeks to unite perspectives that are often set in opposition (that of community and

the broader society of the city), and ultimately ‘sell’ that idealised construction in a

manner that may be seen to commodify the ordinary activities of the ‘sleepy town’.

The growth of Brisbane, both as a population and a city, can be seen to be driven by

deliberate policy strategies that are tapping into national and international economic

and cultural shifts. These shifts are seen as reducing people’s reliance on place,

through the employment mobility offered by technology and global economic

structures, yet also reinforcing the importance of place as a means of expressing

identity (Butler & Robson, 2003; Miller et al., 1998). Brisbane’s (small) part in this

global process is having a significant impact on the identity of the city; shedding its

country town torpor, Brisbane has emerged, ‘Cinderella-like’, as a thriving

metropolis. A discourse of ‘new liveability’ seeks to position the Brisbane that has

emerged as both an exciting cosmopolitan city and a laid back and friendly town, in

a complex interrelation between the extraordinary lifestyle offerings and a more

ordinary and basic set of everyday localised needs. Yet the extensive promotional

activities that have accompanied, and encouraged this identity shift also serve to

idealise it, with the commodification of local community becoming a powerful

discursive reaction. A particular site where these idealised representations, and

reactions, are evident is in the media and marketing constructions of renewed inner

city areas as ‘urban villages’, which are used to exemplify this middle ground ‘new

liveability’.

The Gentrification (sorry, Urban Renewal) of Inner City Brisbane

The complexities inherent within constructions of the city as sites of individual

freedom, and as sites in which the resultant emphasis on instrumental consumption is

seen as threatening the emotional bonds of community, are well exemplified in

constructions of the urban lifestyle of renewed inner city Brisbane. The development

and promotion of Brisbane’s inner city areas as ‘urban villages’ can be seen as a


consequence of a need to accommodate a rapidly increasing population, and the

attempts to increase the city’s liveable credentials to attract business and cultural

investment. The population growth, coupled with the increasing availability of prime

inner city land due to the industrial relocation described above, and a national

housing boom, meant the revitalisation of inner city areas of Brisbane became an

attractive investment opportunity for governments and property developers. As

exemplary village-like components of the greater liveable Brisbane

communityscape, the urban renewal precincts epitomise the lifestyle shifts cultivated

in the ‘new liveability’ discourses, as well as attempts to offer a place based identity

experience. This process has been described as an ideology of liveability (Lees,

2000), where urban renewal is represented through policy, media and marketing as a

sustainable response to the pressures of population growth and deindustrialisation,

and as a blueprint for a civilised and cosmopolitan city life (e.g., Latham, 2003;

Lees, 2003b; Young, Deip, & Drabble, 2006).

The term gentrification is primarily used to describe a socio-spatial process of

change that is class, or at least socio-economically, based (Butler, 2007).

Gentrification studies initially focused on the movement of middle-class people into

inner city working class areas of major cities, when such areas were considered

undesirable by the mainstream middle class (Zukin, 1987). The term is now more

broadly applied to urban renewal type processes that are increasingly more policy,

and therefore property developer driven (Lees, 2000). From this perspective,

gentrification is no longer only individuals refurbishing lofts in Soho, but also

property developers refurbishing a sugar refinery in New Farm. Whilst

acknowledging the suitability of this broader definition is a subject for debate within

gentrification theory (see for example the special issues of Environment and

Planning A, 2007; and Urban Studies, 2003), gentrification research generally

maintains a view that it is a class-based process of change, and one that continues to

have displacement outcomes (Butler, 2007; Clark, 2005; Lees, 2007).

Within the broader views of gentrification, the post-industrial shifts described above

also play a key role (Hamnett & Whitelegg, 2007), and in a sense have worked to

‘mainstream’ gentrification, and the urban lifestyles that are associated with it

(Butler & Robson, 2003; Young et al., 2006). These factors can be broadly viewed


through the interrelated processes of ‘capital’ and ‘culture’, a framework of analysis

proposed by Zukin (1987) to synthesise production/reproduction,

production/consumption and supply/demand models of gentrification, which

particularly from a consumption perspective, relied on vague generalisations

regarding gentrifiers consumer preferences (Jackson & Thrift, 1995; Miles, 1998;

Warde, 1991). These processes themselves are often synthesised in explorations of

gentrifier’s motivations that draw on Bourdieu’s (1986) notion of cultural capital,

with varying conclusions regarding its usefulness (Bridge, 2001; Butler & Robson,

2003; Redfern, 2003; Wynne & O'Connor, 1998).

In the context of this thesis research these terms are useful in their relation to the ‘us’

and ‘them’ binaries discussed above, where capital investment can take on global

overtones. This is of course a simplistic association, and in the Brisbane context the

relations of capital and culture are highly interrelated, which much of the capital

investment being focused on enhancing culture as expressed through the ‘new

liveability’. Yet in the West End context, there is evidence of attempts to separate

capital investment and accumulation from cultural consumption, to maintain a local

identity that is separated from the market. This section will therefore broadly

describe these two areas separately, before considering their conjunction in the area

of ‘urban villages’.

Urban renewal and capital: A place for investment

The importance of broad ranging capital investment in Brisbane overall, and in inner

city areas in bringing about urban renewal cannot be underestimated. Whilst the city

wide investment strategies described above are aimed at building Brisbane’s

business and cultural offerings overall, there has been significant specific public and

private investment in inner city urban renewal as an element of that liveable city

strategy. The areas most impacted by these processes have been the inner city

suburbs of New Farm, Teneriffe, Fortitude Valley and South Brisbane and now West

End (Figure 2). It is these areas that have seen the biggest investment in new

residential, commercial and cultural facilities, and thus present the most obvious

examples of Brisbane’s transformation. Whilst the ‘classic’ activities of

gentrification, including the renovation of the traditional wooden ‘Queenslander’


houses, have been occurring in some inner city areas since the 1970s, the recent

urban development activities represent a more coordinated approach to repopulation

and revitalisation that is making use a newly available industrial land (Stimson et al.,

2000). This coordinated urban renewal began in New Farm in the early 1990s,10 and

with significant government support through planning policy and regulation has been

expanded to other inner city areas. The West End and South Brisbane area is only

beginning “to see the full benefits of the urban renewal process” (The Courier Mail,

16th October 2004, p. 20 Home).

Figure 2: The suburbs of inner city Brisbane

Source: adapted from Brisbane Google-Map, MapData Sciences (2007)

Property development activities to date have included the conversion of heritage-

listed woolstores into apartments, and the remediation of industrial sites for medium

density residential developments, including elements of affordable housing and

mixed-use retail, commercial and residential ‘precincts’. These new areas are 10 Following the development of the national Building Better Cities program in 1991, the Brisbane City Council established the Urban Renewal Task Force (now Urban Renewal Brisbane) as a guiding body to drive the renewal activities in New Farm and beyond.


promoted as lifestyle precincts: of retail, restaurants, bars and entertainment options

that aim to service both residents in the area and appeal to the wider Brisbane

population. Government investment in the arts and in cultural infrastructure projects,

such as the Powerhouse Arts Centre in New Farm, the Judith Wright Centre in

Fortitude Valley and the Millennium Arts Project in South Brisbane, works to

contribute cultural legitimacy, whilst street beautification projects and regulations,

such as wide footpaths, tree plantings and public sculptures, work to link these

cultural offerings with Brisbane’s outdoor lifestyle. In the West End area, the

majority of residential development to date has been focused in the riverside

industrial sites along Montague Road. A smaller number of mixed-use developments

have been or are in the process of being built around the central shopping district of

Boundary Street.

Whilst the recent urban renewal in Brisbane is a policy driven program, the

implementation has also been influenced by what is known in gentrification research

as the ‘rent gap’ (Smith, 1996), where considerations of land-use value drive

investment decisions. For example, newly available riverfront land offered

considerable investment potential for property developers and has resulted in a range

of mainly premium property developments, focused at an affluent middle class. This

economic interest in urban renewal activities carries through media representations

as descriptions of the level of investment made in these developments, and the

potential returns this offers property investors.

Whilst Hamnett and Whitelegg (2007) argue that these ‘industrial renewal’ processes

are less likely to cause displacement of original residents, as they represent new

housing rather than the refurbishment of old housing, it can be suggested that

displacement becomes a more subtle process, through exclusionary property values

and rates, as well as changes in consumption offerings. This potential is suggested in

the representations of renewed areas as ‘liveable’ because of the investment urban

renewal represents: “people have embraced the idea of inner city living after

witnessing the outcomes of the whole urban renewal push” (The Courier Mail, 5th

May 2004, p. 32 Real Estate). It can also lead to conclusions that “Brisbane has

caught up in the greed stakes, and then some” (The Weekend Australian Magazine,


6th – 7th September 2003, p. 23), where the reporting of investment, and profit,

becomes evidence for association of urban renewal with commodification.

Urban renewal as culture: Inner city liveability

The significant capital investments being made in inner city property in Brisbane are

certainly bringing economic benefits to property developers and individual investors,

but they are also promoted as bringing a range of cultural benefits to the city as a

whole. Inner city development in particular is promoted as enabling an increasing

range of people to avail themselves of Brisbane’s evolving liveability in an

increasing range of ways. For inner city residents this liveable experience is offered

through convenient access to a range of lifestyle consumption experiences in a

‘village’ type environment. For inter and intra city tourists, it is the opportunity to

experience a cosmopolitan (gentrified) lifestyle within the context of the sleepy

town. There is an overall sense of encouraging Brisbane residents to become tourists

in their own city; where their lives become part of the exhibit. This symbiotic

relationship is common in revitalised city spaces, where the social identities,

lifestyles and consumption practices of ‘gentrifiers’ are seen as vital to the success of

the investment in the area (Bell & Jayne, 2004; Zukin, 1998).

The co-dependent relationship between culture and capital is clear within the

depictions of Brisbane’s new inner city residents as people with a preference for

lifestyle type consumption: “young people with chronic Ikea habits have flocked to

the apartments and in response bars and coffee shops have sprung up to quench their

thirsts” (The Courier Mail, 9th September 2003, p. 10 Good Life). In particular,

convenient access to both everyday and extraordinary consumption experiences, is

positioned as a key benefit of this new lifestyle and one from which, as this

newspaper quote suggested, there is no turning back; “once people had a taste for

walking out of their apartment and into their favourite restaurant, tanning salon,

bakery or bottle shop, developers realised how much people loved the convenience”

(The Courier Mail, 15th November 2003, p. 20 Home).

In this way, hedonic or self-oriented consumption activities that may be considered

by many as lifestyle type ‘treats’ (Miller, 1998); such as eating out or visiting

tanning salons, are positioned as an ordinary aspect of everyday life within the inner


city, particularly through the functionality of their convenience. Indeed following

Miller’s (1998) positioning of the everyday ‘provisioning’ activities of shopping as

one that is focused on the experience of saving (‘thrift’), the association of ‘treat’

consumption experiences with convenient access can be seen to also allow ‘thrift’

style justifications. That is, because it is convenient to eat out, as it saves time for

example, its status as a treat activity is reduced, and it becomes normalised within

everyday type consumption practices of inner city living. Whilst media

representations imply that consumer demand is the key driver of this new lifestyle,

this demand is clearly championed by the promotional activities described above and

is clear evidence of an ideology of liveability (Lees, 2000). Inner city consumption

becomes cultural, and cultural consumption becomes mainstream.

Capital building culture: Urban villages as ‘lifestyle’ communities

Whilst working to explicitly link urban renewal to consumption activities, the media

and marketing promotion of these areas also attempts to position these consumption

activities as a means of experiencing community. Besides the obvious tactic of the

naming of renewed areas as ‘urban villages’, there is a more subtle emphasis on

social, aesthetic, and sustainable elements that can be linked back to traditional

notions of the local neighbourhood as geographically and socially contained. Thus

‘European’ style shop-top living not only allows convenient access to amenities, it

also offers a ‘village feel’, through walkability and contained social interaction;

“there’s a growing trend toward a more walkable urban lifestyle. A life where work

is only five minutes away, a coffee with friends is a simple lift ride and public

transport stops just outside the door (Sunday Mail, 6th February 2005, p. HO3 Home

Front).

This community message is not only targeted at potential residents and investors, but

also plays in to the broader ‘new liveability’ discourses through a narrative of urban

villages as snapshots of “who we really are” (Brisbane Official Visitors’ Guide 2007,

p. 14). This discourse works to market these inner city suburbs as communities

where a range of consumption experiences on offer allow you to “hang out with

locals” (Interview: tourism marketer), in a manner that can be seen to be

encouraging people—such as potential new residents—to build an identity with


relation to that place. Within this the individual identities of each area become

promotional aspects; West End is a “bohemian mecca” that offers “people watching

at its best” (Ferret Around Brisbane 2003 p.29), Bulimba is “the riverside darling of

the dining out and coffee scene” (Brisbane Magazine 2006/2007 p. 50). That is, a

consequence of attempts to maintain a link to its ‘small town’ past through ‘village’

constructions, is to establish these communities as another attribute of the city that is

suitable for consumption.

Whilst this is consistent with Brisbane’s attempt to identify itself as both a

community and a city; the more explicit relation between lifestyle—and thus capital

reliant—consumption activities and local community culture is seen to be

problematic by some. In particular the juxtaposition of functional and normalised

‘lifestyle’ consumption with claims of a ‘village feel’ raises the spectre of

commodification, and the stereotype of the ‘yuppie’, as suggested here:

You can spend the weekend buying a minimalist lounge for $7000

(irony optional), lunching at a riverside café, discussing real estate ad

nauseam, and still come up wanting. You are hungry for authentic

ideas. You haven't fed on anything real (The Courier Mail, 6th

September 2003, p. L16 Life).

This reactionary discourse also draws from the representations of urban renewal as

‘transforming’ inner city suburbs into acceptable locations to live; due to the

implication they offered little ‘liveable’ value prior to urban renewal. Previous urban

renewal activities were described as successful for example, because they “helped

clean up the former dog’s breakfast of the [area] … and ensure the area functions

again as a residential, entertainment and retail precinct” (The Courier Mail, 26th June

2004, p. 14). A different report noted, “one of the best things about urban renewal is

that it is hard to remember what was there before the upmarket homemaker

businesses and hi-tech industrial users” (The Courier Mail, 3rd December 2004, p. 36

Real Estate). This presents renewal in a very literal way, as a process that removes

all trace of the past and allows the area (or developer) a ‘clean slate’. It also points to

a key issue of contention, that of urban renewal as a standardising project that

devalues and destroys existing communities by “consuming community rather than

encouraging diversity” (West End Neighbourhood News, 1st July, 2005, p. 3). This


process of commodification becomes a subtler, but still powerful element of the

displacing potential of gentrification, and one that appeared most feared within the

West End context.

This section has described the urban renewal activities in Brisbane that formed the

backdrop to this thesis research. These can be summarised as policy and capital

driven process of gentrification supported by a powerful discourse of urban renewal

as a profitable investment that also makes available, and normalises, a range of

lifestyle consumption opportunities. The urban renewal of inner city Brisbane is a

clear example of the mainstreaming of gentrification activities and gentrified

lifestyles, through an ideology of liveability. As noted above, despite the focus on

increasing housing stock, rather than converting existing stock to ‘higher’ use,

gentrification processes still maintain their displacement associations. Whilst

increasing property values and associated rents is an issue, in inner city Brisbane

displacement is also likely to occur through ‘out’ consumption. Where amenities

alter to suit the tastes of the population, one that has been ‘sold’ convenient access to

lifestyle consumption as a normalised element of inner city living. Whilst ‘urban

villages’ seek to balance this consumption based lifestyle element through

neighbourhood associations of walkability, and opportunities to engage with other

local residents, this is also seen by some as a commodification of local culture that

can work to ultimately reduce its diversity. This commodification argument clearly

simplifies the effects of the broader mainstreaming of cultural consumption as an

element of Brisbane’s ‘new liveability’. Yet, rooted in as it is in an opposition of

capital to community, it was a key feature of the reactive discourses in the West End

area, as the following section will discuss.

The Problem with Gentrification (in the West End context)

Figure 3: Assuming an outcome: Public comment on urban renewal in West End


The inner city suburbs of Brisbane, then, can be seen to have been undergoing a

process of gentrification since the 1970s, which since the 1990s can be seen to be

part of a broader suite of economic, social and spatial changes within the city. This

has had the effect of significantly altering the built environment, business and social

makeup of inner city areas, particularly those where urban renewal has been

extensive. As part of this process, a ‘new liveability’ discourse, perpetuated by

media and marketing, has come to be associated with the ‘revitalised’ areas of inner

city Brisbane, where the balance between cosmopolitan liveability and the sleepy

town meet, through the ‘community connection’ provided by ‘urban villages’. This

section specifically considers the example of the West End area with regard to the

parameters of culture and capital described above to explore how these shape the

communityscape, and the local identification processes of those within it.

Whilst the broader urban renewal processes, and particularly the marketing aspects,

were primarily focused on renewal of New Farm, Teneriffe and Fortitude Valley, the

West End area has not escaped attention, despite a long term concerted effort to

block major property development. Using the more typically agreed markers of

broader processes of gentrification—the reinvestment of capital, social upgrading of

locale, landscape change and displacement of low-income groups (Davidson & Lees,

2005)—it can be suggested that the process of gentrification in West End is well

advanced. An ongoing process of renovation has repaired much of the formerly run

down Queenslander housing stock. New apartments are appearing in previous

industrial zones, and mixed-use developments expand the commercial areas.

Approximately half of the population is employed in management or professional

roles, but the area also contains the diverse culture base associated with attracting

gentrifiers (and the creative class) (Florida, 2002; Ley, 1996). Indeed artists,

bohemians, young singles and students, all prevalent in the West End area, are often

identified as ‘pioneer’ and ‘apprentice’ gentrifiers (Ley, 1996; Smith & Holt, 2007;

Zukin, 1998) implying gentrification has been an (unacknowledged) element in West

End’s historical narrative of community evolution. As with gentrification, this

bohemian base is seen to be threatened by the urban renewal activities, in particular

due to rising rental costs that are associated with the revaluation of gentrified areas

(and a national property boom). The West End area also contains a well established

retail infrastructure with a range of product and service offerings, such as ethnic


restaurants, delicatessens, cafés, bars and independent retailers. These retail types are

seen to be preferred by gentrifiers for the differentiating potential they offer

(compared to the supermarket or shopping centre), and their association with

lifestyle, rather than everyday consumption practices (Bridge & Dowling, 2001;

Ilkucan, 2004; Ley, 1996; Zukin, 1998).

Nonetheless as the image above suggests (Figure 3), there are some within the West

End area who may (still) not agree with being identified as gentrifiers, or that the

process is well underway within the neighbourhood. The reaction primarily focused

on ‘outside’ forces, in a symbolically rich ‘protest’ that drew heavily on the

association of the ‘renewed city’ with the global capitalist marketplace. In a

“changes threaten lifestyle” (Southern News, 3rd March 2005, p. 1) discourse that

often drew on the imagery of skyscrapers, urban renewal became “the whore of

private capital, [that] already has the area marked down for damnation” (West End

Neighbourhood News, July 2005, p. 1), and new residents ‘yuppies that kill ghettos’.

One notice collected from a telegraph pole depicted ‘former’ Westenders trudging

off to a refugee camp; illustrating that gentrification’s popular association with

displacement it still strong. Not quite fitting with the depiction of the friendly urban

village as welcoming to all. It must be noted that this extreme reactive was not

present in all media, nor shared by all respondents, and that the particularly

exaggerated responses emanated from an independent newspaper with an obvious

socialist leaning. Some respondents adopted a more pragmatic approach, as

illustrated by the quote that opened this chapter (see p. 40). Yet it is clear that the

identity of the gentrifier, and the promise of a ‘new liveability’ from urban renewal,

did not necessarily sit easily within the West End context.

This tension could be interpreted as arising from the shift from early rehabilitation

gentrification, to the advanced rehabilitation that the urban renewal activities are

encouraging, where the ‘pioneer’ gentrifiers themselves are at risk of being priced

(or consumed) out by the later arriving ‘super-gentrifiers’ (Lees, 2003a; Ley, 1996).

This perspective would certainly be supported by the extreme language of

commodified lifestyles present in much of the reactive discourse, as this respondent

notes:


… more townhouses and multi-dwelling apartments are being

constructed and being filled with people in suits and 4 wheel drives.

People with no knowledge of the area and no real interest in it apart

from the dollar value of their property. Their interest is in cleaning

and sanitising and conforming (Questionnaire: female, 44).

In particular this tension can be seen to draw on the media representations of the

urban renewal process, that normalise hedonic style ‘treat’ consumption through

convenient access, and respond by ‘typing’ those believed to consume in this

manner. This argument in essence is reflective of broader anti-consumption

perspectives, what Miller (1998) calls the ‘discourse of shopping’. Within this

discourse, everyday utilitarian ‘provisioning’ activities are more likely to be

considered ‘work’ than to be pleasurable. The productive aura that ‘work’ implies

differentiates ‘provisioning’ from media depictions of lifestyle based consumption

activities as pleasurable ‘treats’, that are then interpreted as representative of

inauthentic, self-oriented and materialistic behaviours or people (Miller, 1998). From

this perspective the reactive response from some in West End can be seen as one that

views ‘new liveability’ as an encroachment of the market into an area that identifies

itself as operating outside the market:

I must admit to a feeling of pessimism at being able to put a halt to

them when I consider the commercial interests which are arrayed

‘against’ me. As early as 1989 when I moved to the area, I felt that

West End was ‘lucky’ in having for so long escaped such a process of

commercialisation (Questionnaire: male, 33).

These ‘typing’ reactions were of particular interest because of their attempt to draw a

clear line between the convenient consumption based lifestyles associated with urban

renewal, and the ‘local’ culture of the West End area that is also supported by

consumption activities. In particular the language of commodified lifestyles provides

an interesting contrast to the value placed on the strong retail infrastructure already

in place in the West End area. As noted above, the West End area contains a range of

consumption opportunities that are often related to gentrification, although in the

West End area narrative they are more closely associated with the ethnic diversity of

the communityscape. As will be outlined in Chapter Five, this diverse collective


servicescape, which tailors perfectly into the urban village marketing, is also used to

perpetuate the positioning of an authentic ‘local’ lifestyle. What is clear here is that

typifying the consumption practices of the gentrifier can work to deny the influence

of market based activities on the ‘local’ identity, and the possibility of “the qualities

of our local lifestyle that make it so attractive now” (WestEnder, 3rd April, 2005, p.

not recorded), being in part a product of an ongoing process of gentrification. By

adopting one aspect of the ‘us’ and ‘them’ binary, one is able to typify the other.

Research on gentrification offers little insight into ways to move beyond this

‘typing’ process, which can in part be attributed to the implicit assumptions

regarding the consumption practices that underlie much of its research (Jackson &

Thrift, 1995; Warde, 1991). There is an increasing recognition that gentrification

processes, and gentrifiers differ according to their contexts, and that gentrifiers

actively seek out contexts where they feel able to identify with ‘people like us’

(Butler & Robson, 2003). However there also remains a reliance on a fictionalised

construction of the gentrifier as a static social group that can be ‘typed’ as different

and that uses specific consumption practices to reinforce that difference (Redfern,

2003; Smith & Holt, 2007). This assumption, as with the typing practices of the

promotional and reactive discourses discussed above, can work to mask the differing

cultural characteristics of gentrifiers (and non-gentrifiers) as individuals, as well as

overlook broader social and cultural processes that inform these lifestyle type

behaviours that they are assumed to engage in (Smith & Holt, 2007). More

particularly, cultural capital based analysis of gentrification as a process of

distinction has been criticised as seeking to explain class, through a tendency to

construct identity that is apart from class (Wynne & O'Connor, 1998); and thus

conflate status seeking activities with ideologies of class (Redfern, 2003). The effect

of this conflation in this context can be seen in assumptions that ‘they’ engage in

consumption activities for the ‘dollar value’, whilst ‘our’ consumption activities are

‘non-commercial’ in nature. Class based explanations invoke motivation based

explanations (Redfern, 2003), which can work to obscure the meanings experienced

from consumption, including those that may have place identity defining value.

Instead it could be suggested that the implicit assumptions regarding consumption

practices that are inherent in gentrification research are exploited within this research


context; evident in assumptions that new residents will be yuppies and that they will

wish convenient access to tanning beds. That is, the process of gentrification appears

to have become a blueprint for the urban renewal process in Brisbane to the extent

that its theoretical delimitations are extrapolated into popular discourse, which only

serves to perpetuate typing behaviours, and continue to obscure the middle ground

suggested in the quote that opened this chapter. Whilst it is clear that the West End

area is undergoing gentrification, the theoretical frameworks do not really provide

the tools to explore the aspect of interest within this gentrification process; the ways

in which West End area residents work to construct their consumption based

lifestyles as ‘local’ and therefore as different to the (similar) lifestyles marketed to

gentrifiers.

This section focused on the reactive discourses that emanated from the West End

area, in response to the general promotion of urban renewal to provide insight into

the contextual issues that inspired and informed the direction of this research. Within

these responses there is a clear attempt to position the local as something existing

outside of the capital investment and accumulation that is associated with urban

renewal. Drawing of a discourse of lifestyle consumption practices as shallow and

materialistic, a binary is constructed to separate a generalised identity of them, from

a ‘local’ identity of us. Gentrification research would see this as a class based

process of differentiation, pioneers seeking to protect their turf from super-

gentrifiers. Yet the local practices some residents of the West End area were seeking

to protect are on the surface not that dissimilar from the gentrified lifestyle that is

increasingly becoming mainstream through the ‘new liveability’ discourses, and thus

threaten the effectiveness of these ‘local’ practices as a means of differentiation. An

approach to working through this contradiction is suggested in Redfern’s (2003)

proposal to consider gentrifiers as a status group, who may therefore be driven by

the same motivations as non-gentrifiers—to assume a place based identity—and

merely engage in different practices to achieve those aims. This suggests the need

for a clearer understanding of the meanings that are experienced by individuals when

engaging in this lifestyle type behaviour, and most clearly points to the value of

consideration of theories from consumer research.


Conclusion: Making consumption explicit in gentrification

This chapter has provided a summary of the context in which the thesis research was

conducted, to provide a framework from which to better evaluate the grounded

research, and provide insight into the decision to position the study within the

theoretical frameworks of marketing and consumer research. Brisbane as a city has

been undergoing a significant shift in identity since the 1990s, fuelled by population

growth and economic investment. This has been supported by marketing and media

representations that seek to present the city of Brisbane as both an emancipatory city

and a connected community within a broader discourse of ‘new liveability’. Inner

city urban renewal has been a key element in this transformation, where capital

investment is promoted as enhancing cultural benefits, and enabling their access by a

broader range of people.

The promotion of the cultural opportunities of urban renewal focused primarily on

increased availability of lifestyle consumption experiences, one of which is the

opportunity to engage with locals and the sense of community they embody. This

proposal can generate fears of commodification, which are underlined by a view that

local consumption practices can be considered as operating outside the processes of

capital and cultural consumption that urban renewal exemplifies. Whilst both

perspectives can be seen to obscure the middle ground suggested by the quote that

opened this chapter, and the approach of the business owner who inspired this

research, it does reinforce the power of the ‘us’ and ‘them’ binary, as an underlying

discourse and a tool for identity definition.

This chapter has used the frameworks of gentrification theory, which clearly explain

the broader processes occurring in inner city Brisbane, to imply the potential that

shifting this context to a theoretical framework of marketing and consumer

behaviour can offer. Whilst the generalised assumptions regarding consumer

practices as class based differentiation are problematic in this context, the ‘them’

that these frameworks imply underscores the important role of the ‘stranger’ in

identity definition, and its ongoing association with the instrumental elements of

capital and the city. In the West End context this ‘them’ is personified as the

‘yuppie’, a stereotyped identity that relies on assumptions of self-interested


consumer motivations. This typing practice works to not only presuppose the

motivations of new residents, but also works to obscure the role of consumption

practices in defining a collective identity for ‘us’. The following chapter turns to

marketing and consumer research to consider ways of moving beyond these

assumptions of type, and explore consumption practices and experiences according

to their identity defining value to people as individuals and as a part of a community.

Chapter Four: Consumption Experiences and Communities 60

Chapter Four

Consumption Experiences and Communities: A Research Overview

Figure 4: The identity conundrum according to a West End clothes store

This thesis research is an exploration of identity; in particular identity that is

developed in relation to place, but one that is enabled, or at least mediated, through

everyday and lifestyle type consumption experiences. This chapter provides a

theoretical framework drawn from marketing and consumer research in which to

position the practice of defining a place based identity through consumption.

People clearly use products, services and experiences to assist them in developing

and maintaining their identity(ies) (Belk, 1988; Firat & Dholakia, 1998; McCracken,

1988). Marketing and consumer research has increasingly recognised that this is a

fluid process, less bound by ‘container metaphors’ such as class (Holt, 1995, 1997),

and more open to a process of the personalisation of the offerings of the market

(Sherry, Kozinets, & Borghini, 2007). Indeed, the individual is now more likely to

be seen as involved in the construction of multiple identities, or masks, with which

to engage in the different realms of their life (Firat & Dholakia, 1998; Maffesoli,

1996). Yet as the photograph above suggests (Figure 4), this can still be a


complicated and contradictory process, where our efforts to express an identity

through consumer goods can often instead only serve to identify us as part of a

‘mass’. Identity is still able to be commodified through the market’s idealising

activities. The fear of the commodifying potential of the mass market was clear in

the research context. The urban renewal process was seen as a threat to the West End

area because it represented the encroachment of the ‘global’ capitalist market,

personified through the construct of the ‘yuppie’, into a communityscape that is

constructed as operating outside those mass market systems. As noted in Chapter

Three, this construction overlooks the significant contribution of market activities to

the maintenance of that ‘local’ identity. As will be discussed here, it also relies on an

untenable assumption regarding the role and power of consumers and the value they

draw from consumer culture.

The photograph above (Figure 4) also highlights another fundamental element in the

construction of identity through consumption practices: that it is embedded within

social relations. Consumers use products, services and experiences in order to say

something about their identity to others (McCracken, 1988). Recognition of this is

apparent in the focus of relational consumption opportunities, such as cafés in the

media and marketing discourses discussed in Chapter Three, and underlies the urban

village construction. The importance of this social context is also being increasingly

emphasised in marketing and consumer research, as is exemplified by a series of

conceptual shifts and theorising processes that position marketing as a whole within

broader societal and historical contexts (e.g., Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Cova,

Badot, & Bucci, 2006; Vargo & Lusch, 2004). This revaluing of social context is in

line with the broader aims of the thesis research, that include the adoption of a

constructivist grounded theory method, to explore the individual consumption

experiences that occur in everyday servicescapes in relation to their significance in

building identity links to a series of broader social and historical contexts, of a

suburb and a city.

This chapter outlines how investigating the consumption practices that individuals

use to build their identity—and the ways practices can work to create community

type links—can shed light on some of obscured perspectives that arose through the

analysis of the Brisbane context presented in Chapter Three. Firstly, an outline will


be presented of theories that view consumers as co-creative participants in the

generation of value through their consumption experiences. Of particular interest is

the manner in which consumers co-creatively interact with the market to build

connections to others, through brand based communities or consumer tribes. This

view of a collective identity that can build from market based behaviours is seen as

an alternative to the market opposed construction of the local, and thus a different

framework through which to view the impact of urban renewal activities on the West

End area ‘local’ identity. This will be discussed with particular reference to how

these community building consumption practices may be seen to occur within

servicescapes, such as retail and food and beverage business operations. These

business types play a key role in the provision of lifestyle consumption experiences

within urban areas and thus can become symbolic battlegrounds in the ‘us’ and

‘them’ wars as will be discussed in Chapter Five. They are also sites where spatially

bound consumption experiences can be shared through interaction, suggesting

opportunities to break down some of the typified ‘them’ barriers, through shared

consumption experiences. The conclusion of this chapter will draw together

elements of the context presented in Chapter Three and the theory presented here, to

propose a broad framework in which to situate this thesis research.

Co-creating Consumption Experiences

The question of the role and power of consumers is one that has come under scrutiny

from marketing theorists and consumer researchers, as conceptions of consumers as

manipulated or manipulators are increasingly seen as unrealistic in our globalised

times (e.g., Caru & Cova, 2007c; Cova et al., 2007b; Holt, 2002; Kozinets et al.,

2004; Vargo & Lusch, 2004). These researchers argue for a more open view of the

market based identity building practices of consumers, by accepting that the

relationship between consumers and the marketplace is a complex phenomenon, in

which consumers exert agency and pursue identity goals in a manner that is

informed by and draws on the dominant ideologies of the market (Arnould &

Thompson, 2007; Holt, 2002). Thus whilst recognising that consumption can be a

means of producing one’s multiple identities (Arnould & Price, 2000; Belk, 1988),


this view neither considers consumers as truly liberated activists, nor as truly bound

by the representations of the marketplace. Instead, individuals’ identity projects are

intricately intertwined with and mediated by a range of physical, social and historical

contexts, including the marketplace.

This reconceptualisation is perhaps best exemplified in the recent work of Vargo and

Lusch (2004, 2006), in the Service-Dominant Logic (SDL), and the research

Arnould and Thompson (2005, 2007) summarise within the framework of Consumer

Culture Theory (CCT). Both approaches privilege the role of the consumer, and the

influence of the social, historical and contextual resources they bring to the

consumption experience. The CCT ‘brand’ was proposed as a heuristic framework

from which to map the recurrent theoretical concerns from consumer research

conducted in a vast range of consumption contexts (Arnould & Thompson, 2005),

and is thus useful as a positioning mechanism for the findings of this thesis research.

Whilst drawing on all aspects of this framework, this thesis research most

specifically focuses on, and contributes to the areas of consumer identity projects

and marketplace cultures. The SDL, meanwhile, is a particular effort to shift the

thinking of strategic marketing from a focus on a goods based model of exchange, to

one that focuses on services provision, and the process of co-creation of value that

this allows (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). The SDL offers institutional legitimacy to this

co-creative process, that has previously been highlighted by a number of consumer

researchers (Arnould, 2007b; e.g., Firat & Venkatesh, 1995; Holbrook, 1999b), and

therefore offers a useful set of concepts with which to describe the socially

constructed consumption practices that are explored in the thesis research.

The SDL for marketing (Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2006), seeks to reconfigure the

marketing process to privilege the services that resources render, rather than the

resources themselves. Key to this view is the acknowledgment of the consumer’s

ability to bring their own operand (e.g., money) and operant (e.g., previous

experiences, expectations, symbolic knowledge, social contexts) resources to a

consumption occasion and participate with the marketer in the co-creation of value

(Arnould, 2007a, 2007b; Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2006). For marketers, now

positioned as social actors within a societal context, this means that the value of their

service is inherently unstable, as it is no longer something embedded in a good


during the manufacturing process (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Businesses instead can

only offer ‘value propositions’, a combination of their operand (e.g., products and

servicescapes) and operant (e.g., brand images) resources; from which consumers

extract value through the consumption experience (Arnould, 2007a; Vargo & Lusch,

2004). To differentiate in a competitive market, businesses must therefore strive to

make their value offerings better, more compelling, or easier for consumers to access

than those of their competitors. Stage-managed extraordinary experiences, such as

those proposed in experiential marketing (e.g., Schmitt, 1999) is one way of

approaching this. Focusing on the relational aspects offered by social contexts may

be another; as even consumption that is chiefly transactional and everyday offers

opportunities for relation based experiences (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). What this

implies is that an iterative learning process may be required of both businesses and

consumers (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). In particular, there is potential in exploring the

sociality of the co-creative experience itself, and the way interaction with staff and

other customers for example, can contribute to the overall value extracted by the

consumer (Arnould, 2007b). This co-creative approach also helps to focus attention

on the subjective nature of the experience of extracting value through consumption,

as it is in this subjectivity that the identity defining potential lies (Caru & Cova,

2007a; Holbrook, 1999b).

The relational focus of the SDL approach is particularly relevant when it is

recognised, as per Caru and Cova (2003), that not all consumption experiences are or

can be extraordinary. Many are in fact the mundane work of ‘provisioning’ (Miller,

1998), or other everyday type consumption experiences that occur with or without a

market relation (see also Caru & Cova, 2007b). Caru and Cova (2003) differentiate

this market relation by naming them as consumer experiences, when conducted in

relation with the market, and consumption experiences, when drawing on broader

societal influences. As this thesis research focuses on experiences that occur within a

market context (servicescapes) yet draw on societal elements outside of the market

relation, the language of consumption experience will be used. This is to maintain a

sense of consistency, whilst emphasising that the market relation is often deemed

subservient to the social relation in this context.


This section has outlined a range of thought from marketing and consumer research

that takes a more considered view of the relationship between individuals and the

marketplace. There is an increasing recognition that consumers engage with the

market in a co-creative manner, drawing on the value offerings of businesses, as well

as a range of their own operand and operant resources to construct identity defining

experiences. This co-creative perspective also works to recontextualise the

consumption experience, with social and symbolic contexts acting as operant

resources and thus contributing additional layers of value that can be mobilised by

both businesses and consumers within the consumption experience. In particular,

these co-created consumption experiences can encourage a relational focus, where

social interactions with other customers and staff may contribute to the overall sense

of experienced value. As will be discussed in the following section, these shared

experiences can also work to build community type links.

Shared Consumption Experiences and Consumption Communities

The contextual focus of the CCT and SDL approaches, described above, suggests

that an individual’s identity projects are always situated within some kind of societal

space. And as the relational elements would imply, the consumption experiences that

support this sense of self are in a sense always shared with others within that space.

Indeed, Caru and Cova (2007a) argue that it is only through the sharing that the

identity defining value of the consumption experience becomes truly real. Whilst

recognising that all consumption experiences have some shared element to them, this

thesis research is particularly focused on those shared experiences that are based on

collective needs, values or lifestyles of informal groups, defined as consumption

communities (Boorstin, 1973). These communities have been receiving increasing

attention in consumer research (e.g. Cova et al., 2007b). This attention is based on

growing evidence of consumer use of brands, products and activities to forge

community type links (e.g., Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001; Schouten & McAlexander,

1995), and a postmodern informed conceptualisation of consumers’ movement

beyond the individualistic identity projects that were seen to define the modern era

(and yuppies) (Firat & Dholakia, 1998), to projects which seek to re-establish


communal embeddedness (Cova, 1997; Cova & Cova, 2002). This section reviews

current research on consumption communities to draw out how they may be

considered in relation to a place based collective identity that is the subject of this

thesis research.

Research on consumption communities

Communities based on collective consumption experiences can be said to occur

where the value extracted through co-created consumption works to build identity

defining links between individuals. These links can come to be valued above the

originating resource itself, such that “the link is more important than the thing”

(Cova, 1997, p. 307). This shared link has been called ‘communitas’ (Arnould &

Price, 1993; Belk, Wallendorf, & Sherry, 1989; Celsi, Rose, & Leigh, 1993) and

‘consciousness of kind’ (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001). Both have as their foundation a

shared emotion or passion, or aesthetic (Maffesoli, 1996), that binds community

members together in a symbolically and ritually manifested commitment (Arnould &

Price, 1993; Cova & Cova, 2002). The commitments of these communities are based

on shared emotions, lifestyles, moral and ethical beliefs; values that can be

experienced through shared or collective consumption (Cova, 1997).

Maffesoli’s (1996) conceptualisation of postmodern tribes is of particular interest

here, owing to his focus on their transient and permeable nature and the manner in

which this allows individuals move between tribal and non-tribal identities (see also

Cova, 1997; Cova & Cova, 2001, 2002; Cova, Kozinets, & Shankar, 2007a).

Consumer tribes are primarily conceptual, imagined communities (Anderson, 2006)

held together by ritualised bonds. These resultant consumer tribes are not seen as

static, in the manner that is attributed to the local (Smith, 2001), despite their

localised and interpersonal associations (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001). Instead they tend

to be inherently unstable and small scale, appearing in the moment of interaction,

and then fading (Maffesoli, 1996). It is this ephemeral nature that allows individuals

to easily move between tribal groups, playing out a range of identity roles, at work,

at home, online or in public contexts (Cova & Cova, 2002).

It could be suggested that these tribes would thrive on the emancipatory nature and

rich social context offered by urban environments, where the mass of people and


variety of the market, offers a range of physical and symbolic opportunities to both

surrender to, and escape from, a collective identity. This surrender is described by

Maffesoli as disindividualising, in that it is a ‘diffuse union’ that “does not require

one’s full presence for the other” (1996, p. 73). This disindividualisation, or de-

differentiation (Lash, 1988), is a movement beyond the detached consumer as

individual seeking to build a unique identity through market activities, to what

Maffesoli (1996, p. 73) calls a “tactile relationship” where interactions within the

‘emptiness’ of the mass crystallise as shared experiences. By de-centring the self and

adopting the ‘mask’ of the tribe, the individual is able to open themself to these

collective sensations and affective experiences (Featherstone, 1991; Maffesoli,

1996). In doing so, they can bring elements of the subjective and instinctive back

into a milieu that can be perceived as objective, instrumental, and impersonal. In this

moment, tribe members sacrifice their individuality to the collective experience of

belonging, safe in the knowledge that this disindividualisation is only momentary

(Maffesoli, 1996), and that one mask can soon be replaced by another. This

transience positions the emotional community of the tribe within the ‘unstable’

middle ground between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, what Shields (1992) calls a

‘contact’, rather than a ‘contract’ community. In this way, the idea of consumer

tribes gives value to the very weak and ‘nodding’ social links that can be formed

through shared consumption experiences, and that connect us to a range of people

with whom we engage.

To date, much of the work exploring consumption communities, and their ability to

build networks through shared experiences and values, has focused on brand or

activity based communities or subcultures, such as Harley Davidson riders, Jeep and

SAAB owners, Apple Mac users, inline skaters and skydivers (Bagozzi & Dholakia,

2006; Celsi et al., 1993; Cova & Cova, 2001; McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig,

2002; Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001). A recently published edited volume of studies of

consumer tribes (Cova et al., 2007b), has expanded this focus to include for

example, fan communities, online communities, and gamers. Research on the

authoritative performances (Arnould & Price, 2000) of alternative and traditional

festivals such as the Burning Man festival, that also draw on this idea of a collective

experience, could also be included here (Kozinets, 2002; Sherry et al., 2007). A

similar use of consumption practices to suggest the integration and classification of a


collective identity was highlighted by Ilkucan (2004; Ilkucan & Sandikci, 2005) in

his conceptualisation of gentrifiers as a subculture of consumption.

Whilst recognising the differences in temporality, commercial orientation, and

spatial location of these communities (McAlexander et al., 2002), and variations in

their annexation and appropriation the offerings of the market (Cova et al., 2007a)

this body of work has highlighted how a collective identity can build around shared

consumption experiences that incorporate ritual and symbolic practices. These

practices work to establish a sense of a shared identity and belonging, integrate

others into the community, and classify members and non-members (Holt, 1995;

McAlexander et al., 2002; Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001).

Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) describe these integrating and classifying processes

according to three main categories; consciousness of kind, rituals and traditions and

moral responsibilities. The shared aesthetic of consciousness of kind is reinforced

through determinations of legitimacy of community members, and through

oppositional brand loyalty, and boycotting or devaluing ‘other’ brands. Rituals and

traditions are the social processes through which the community reinforces itself.

These go beyond the nod and the wave, to include the creation, celebration and

sharing of a brand history through narrative. Moral responsibilities describe the

sense of duty to the community felt by members; these practices can include the

integration and retention of members, and assisting members in the use of the brand.

Through this range of processes the consumer community works to reinforce and

maintain its sense of a collective identity.

Place based consumer tribes?

Within the conceptualisation of consumers linked as tribes through collective

experience, spatial relations play an important role, as much through their absence as

their ability to unite. While some of these tribal networks may exist in primarily in

virtual space (Cova & Pace, 2006; de Valck, 2007), others are defined by the

boundaries in which they interact (Kozinets, 2002; McGrath, Sherry, & Heisley,

1993), or are at least reinforced within certain boundaries (Holt, 1995; McAlexander

et al., 2002). Also worth noting is the time honoured role of the shopping centre as a

place in which people gather and engage in collective identification processes


(Maclaran & Brown, 2005; Miller et al., 1998; Sandikci & Holt, 1998). Interestingly

there has been limited focus within this growing area of research on the more

traditional connotation of community as ‘place based’ in the geographical sense, and

the role of consumption practices in building this. That is, a tribe that specifically

forms and exists around a place, rather than just in a place. This is despite a

recognition that exploring the links that individuals develop with (and within) places

is a fertile and vital field of research in marketing (Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999;

Brown, 2003; Sherry, 1998b, 2000) and the rich social contexts and opportunities for

disindividualised interaction offered by geographic place, and cities in particular.

This is not surprising, given the traditional opposition between geographically based

communities and the market, as the reactive discourse discussed in Chapter Three

would attest. The marketing of locations is generally associated with their

commodification (Urry, 1995), where the redeeming values of the area are sanitised

and packaged for more general consumption and the sense of the organic and

subjective nature is lost, as noted in the discussion of property development and

renewal in Huntington Beach (Schau, 2003) and tourism in Harlem (Hoffman, 2003)

for example. Yet relations with geographic place cannot be excluded from

individuals’ identity projects (Low & Altman, 1992; Smith, 2001), as the continued

importance of the (commodified) notion of the local as a place based reaction to

globalising processes (Butler & Robson, 2003; Urry, 1995), and the ever-expanding

nostalgia for place(s) this begets (Brown & Sherry, 2003; Maclaran & Brown, 2005)

would suggest.

One means by which consumption communities attempt to address the problematic

relationship between place and the market, is suggested by the examples of those

that are constructed within a static place, such as Burning Man, and the Farmers

Market (Kozinets, 2002; McGrath et al., 1993), where ‘anti’ or ‘pre’ market

associations are drawn on to construct the spatially bound experience as existing

‘outside’ the (mass) market. This may be interpreted as a denial of the influence of

the marketplace, such as is evident in the West End context, in the construction of

‘authenticity’ as a means of positioning certain consumption practices as outside the

idealised and commodifying power of the mass market. What it more generally

implies though is that the influence of the market can be seen to be acceptable, when


it is constructed as a ‘partnership’ that is constructed for the benefit of the

community, rather than the product or profit (Cova & Cova, 2002; McAlexander et

al., 2002).

This section then has highlighted a range of research that has identified the existence

of communities that are formed through consumption practices, which this thesis

will now solely refer to as consumer tribes. Like more traditional notions of

community, they are bound by a shared sense of identity, and an emotional

connection that is manifested through symbolic rituals and traditions, and

responsibilities towards the tribe. These markers and roles serve to classify tribe

members and help members integrate the collective identity. Unlike the traditional

community, associated with the more static grouping of family or village (Smith,

2001), these tribes are primarily conceptual, and relatively superficial, in that they

exist in the moment of interaction. Based on ‘contact’, rather than ‘contracts’,

consumer tribes allow the individual to play out a range of identity roles, yet still feel

a sense of a connection through collective experiences.

Whilst the majority of consumer tribe research has focused on brands or activities,

some of these tribes are bound or reinforced by the geographical and social contexts

in which they occur. Nonetheless studies of consumer tribes have not yet returned to

that initial site of community—geographic place—despite its acknowledged

importance as a site of identity definition, and its ongoing brand like packaging

through commodification. One such ‘place’ where considerable research has

occurred within marketing is within servicescapes (Bitner, 1992), in their role as

physical and social contexts for consumption practices. It is useful therefore to

consider this area of research, for its insight into the role of servicescapes in

encouraging identity defining co-created consumer value experiences, and also

because of their association with inner city lifestyles.

Servicescapes as Sites for Sociality

Servicescapes play a key symbolic role within the discourses of urban lifestyles;

both as convenient lifestyle type amenities and sites of shallow and materialistic

consumption. Gentrification research tends to view particular servicescapes as


symptomatic of urban renewal activities; an increase in upmarket retailers, ethnic

restaurants, cafes and bars is symbolic of gentrification (Bridge & Dowling, 2001;

Ley, 1996; Zukin, 1998). Yet servicescapes also operate as sites of everyday

‘provisioning’ type experiences; in butchers, fruit and vegetable shops and corner

stores, which have an established (nostalgic) ‘pre-modern’ identity as sites of local

relations (Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999; Jacobs, 1961). Indeed as Shields (1992)

notes, servicescapes can be considered as ‘trans-modern’ sites of sociality, in that

they have maintained a recognisable role as spaces for social relations throughout

pre-modern, modern and postmodern eras. This is despite their changing form, and

an increase in ‘non-places’ (Auge, 1995), servicescapes that serve no real relational,

historical or identity defining purpose, such as supermarkets and airports. As places

to ‘be in the marketplace’ (Sherry, 1998b), servicescapes can also be said to play a

vital mediating role between market based consumption experiences and broader

notions of place. That is, like the urban villages of a city, servicescapes can operate

as microcosms of a communityscape, providing a symbolic ‘taste’ of the wider

community identity.

From a marketing perspective, servicescapes are key sites in which producers and

consumers meet to offer and extract value. As sites they have the potential to

introduce a range of physical, social and symbolic resources from which a consumer

can draw to add value to the consumption experience (Bitner, 1992; Sherry, 1998b;

Tombs & McColl-Kennedy, 2003). Research on a behavioural level has shown how

the contextual, physical and social elements of servicescapes can impact on a

consumer’s affective and cognitive responses, and ultimately on repurchase

intention, defined here as a greater willingness to purchase, return, interact, over-

spend and increase time spent in the servicescape (Bitner, 1992; Donovan, Rossiter,

Marcoolyn, & Nesdale, 1994; Tombs & McColl-Kennedy, 2003). Case studies have

also explored the value adding potential of interaction, which can encourage

‘commercial friendships’ between producers and consumers (Price & Arnould,

1999), provide ‘expert’ guidance in ritual behaviours (Otnes, 1998), and build

community type links between producers and groups of consumers (Arnould &

Price, 1993) for example. There is also evidence of these links being maintained

outside the originating context, as friendships between service provider and


customer (Price & Arnould, 1999), or brandfest attendees who remain in contact

between events (McAlexander et al., 2002).

On the broader level, research into a range of servicescapes has highlighted the many

ways they can influence consumption experiences; by communicating symbolic

messages about locations, histories and brand identities, through layout, design and

decoration (e.g., Gottdiener, 1998; Goulding, 2000; Rosenbaum, 2005; Sherry,

1998a); through involving the consumer in co-creative processes through varied

levels of engagement, such as experiential immersion, and stage-managed

opportunities for play (e.g. Caru & Cova, 2006; Kozinets, Sherry, Storm, Duhachek,

Nuttavuthisit, & Deberry-Spence, 2004); and encouraging symbolic and ritualised

interaction between customers, and between customers and staff (e.g., Aubert-Gamet

& Cova, 1999; Iacobucci, 1998; Otnes, 1998; Pugh, 2001; Spradley & Mann, 1975).

Servicescape research has also been able to highlight the cumulative impact of

different experiences within one (usually extended) service encounter. Arnould and

Price’s research on white water rafting, where the overall experience was found to be

“magical” in a way not embodied in “any summary index of specific attributes of the

trip” (1993, p. 25), would be one example of this. Multifaceted consumer

experiences such as those offered by Niketown and ESPN Zone (Sherry, 1998a;

Sherry et al., 2001), illustrate how consumers may accumulate experiences within a

single servicescape that leave them with an overall impression of the servicescape as

a whole.

Of particular interest to this thesis is the connection between the cumulative

experiences of individuals in servicescapes and the collective experiences of the

consumer tribe. That is, how individual interactions in servicescapes may build over

time into a bond not only between two individuals, but become representative of a

greater bond, to a collective identity. The work of Aubert-Gamet and Cova (1999)

provides some insight in this area, suggesting a role for servicescapes in building

community type links, by acting as anchoring places where established tribal

relations are enacted and reinforced, and as places of exposure, safe havens in which

individuals can observe or interact with tribe members with limited risk.

Elements of these anchoring and exposure roles can be seen in some research on

consumer tribes. The brandfests of the automanfacturer Jeep (McAlexander et al.,


2002) play what Aubert-Gamet and Cova (1999) describe as an anchoring role. As

spatially confined, extended and extraordinary experiences these brandfests work to

enhance the already existing connections of usually geographically dispersed tribe of

Jeep appreciators. A Farmers Market (McGrath et al., 1993) acts as a site of

exposure, and though explored for a different intent, the Bar in the research of

Spradley and Mann (1975) acts as an anchoring site for the staff and regulars who

inhabit it. Both the Farmers Market and the Bar illustrate how through social

interaction in servicescapes, particularly between regulars and staff (or vendors),

ritualised practices can develop that work to mark a shared identity. In the case of

the Farmers Market, this was seen to produce a symbolic ‘halo effect’, helping the

geographic community in which it exists to reinforce a ‘healthy’ identity (McGrath

et al., 2002).

Marketing researchers have also considered the collective servicescapes that are

shopping centres; as public spaces, and sites for sociality, malls are used to reinforce

identity (e.g., ethnicity, class, gender and nationality, Maclaran & Brown, 2005;

Miller et al., 1998), and to experience low level sense of connection to others

(Sandikci & Holt, 1998). As Maclaran and Brown (2005) illustrate, experiences in

the individual servicescapes of a centre and in the ‘public’ spaces in between, can

accumulate to become representative of a broader sense of (de)attachment to the

unique identity of the shopping centre itself. Furthermore, for some of their

respondents the Powerscourt centre comes to represent something fundamentally

Irish, an identity that is later threatened by the ‘invasion’ of British chain stores.

Miller et al., (1998) report similar nostalgic identity extensions, where a shopping

area is seen to characterise the notion of community, or at least provide a space in

which it can be recognised. Consideration of both of research in shopping centres

and the anchoring and exposure sites of consumer tribes suggest that both

individually and collectively these sites of consumption can play a significant role in

supporting some sort of collective identification.

This section has summarised servicescapes research to explore ways in which they

may be seen to contribute to the development of community type links.

Servicescapes offer a range of operand and operant resources, which both consumer

and producer can mobilise within the co-creation process. In particular, the social


interaction has significant value potential, it can increase willingness to interact and

to spend time in a servicescape. This social context offers relational potential, which

can be built on within a (usually extended) service encounter, or through repeated

interactions that can develop into commercial friendships. It can also be seen that by

adopting an anchoring or exposure role, a servicescape may reinforce an existing

consumer tribe, or support the development of a tribe within it. This research

therefore implies that by mobilising the social contexts that are spatially contained

within servicescapes, there is significant potential to encourage tribal links.

Servicescapes are linked through physical and/or symbolic circumstances, such as

the geographic proximity of the shopping centre, and can thus be seen to have an

accumulative influence as a collective servicescape. Of interest to this thesis research

is whether a collective servicescape such as that of an ‘urban village’, can operate in

an accumulative manner, like an extended brandfest, in which the brand is the

communityscape itself, and the residents and visitors the tribe.

Conclusion: Considering servicescapes as sites for building place based

consumption communities

This chapter has reviewed a range of theory from marketing and consumer research,

to provide a theoretical framework in which to situate the findings of this thesis

research. The development of this framework was guided by the developing theory

of assuming a local identity, including elements of the research context described in

Chapter Three. Contrary to the narrow depictions of consumer practices within the

discourses of ‘new liveability’, and the reactive response in the discourses of ‘us’

and ‘them’, the theories outlined above suggests a view of the consumer as one who

co-creatively uses the marketplace to develop a fluid identity in ways that can be

playful, status seeking, as well as emotionally meaningful and authentic. Research

on consumer tribes tells us that individuals may use these co-creative consumption

experiences to develop and maintain an identity that is collective. Servicescapes

research suggests that the spatially confined places of shops, cafés and bars may

provide opportunities for the meaningful social interaction that allow these tribal

links to grow.


Cities offer a significant social and spatial context in which to explore the practices

of consumer tribes, since they are an example of a geographic place that continues to

be recognised as an important part of an individual’s identity projects. The

associative nature of the city allows individuals to engage in a broad range of

identity projects, one of which may involve identification with place. The renewed

inner city in particular offers a rich social context, an ever present ‘mass’, a well

established ideology of community through place-marketing activities, and a range

of both everyday and lifestyle type consumption opportunities. The perfect

environment for a consumer tribe. Gentrifying areas may of course also include a

barrier, a ‘stranger’ in the form of ‘them’ against which to define a static and

bounded local identity as one that operates outside the market. However, the use of

consumption practices to define these identities suggests potential in the exploration

of the environments and ways in which these experiences may be seen as shared,

rather than be seen as divisive

The theory of consumer tribes offers a means of considering that consumption

experiences in such an environment can engender collective bonds. This is so

because consumer tribes can use the market to build connections with others, rather

than positioning the market as a space that is devoid of those opportunities.

Servicescapes research suggests that such locations offer considerable potential for

encouraging shared experiences and tribe building activities. They are also important

aspect of these renewed inner city areas and the urban lifestyle as a whole, as

locations for extraordinary and ordinary consumption experiences. As highly

symbolic and relational locations, servicescapes can also work to communicate

elements of identity, of the servicescape itself, the people who use it, and of the

communityscape in which it operates.

Thus, when newly built mixed-use developments are promoted as convenient

locations in which to experience the urban lifestyle, it is possible to look beyond the

stereotypes of materialism and idealised consumption to consider ways in which

these new servicescapes, individually and collectively may increase opportunities for

individuals to share tribe like experiences with others. In an urban renewal context, it

is possible to suggest that rather than reducing the aesthetic meaning in ‘place’, these

increased opportunities for commercial activity can add another level of symbolic


possibility. Consumers and businesses may draw upon this possibility as an operant

resource as they work to co-creatively build an identity in relation to that place. Key

to this concept is accepting that a place based community can be seen as a

community when connected through weak networks and fleeting interactions, rather

than strong reciprocal social networks traditionally linked to Gemeinschaft. Can the

aesthetic connection of consumer tribes be considered sufficient to satisfy the

ongoing need for a sense of place? Drawing on an exploration of the use of

consumption practices to assume a West End local identity, this thesis argues that it

can.

Chapter Five: Using Consumption Experiences in Servicescapes 77

Chapter Five

Using Consumption Experiences in Servicescapes to Assume a

‘Local’ Identity

Sorry to be postmodern about this, but my identity at present is to a

large degree constituted by my composition within the social,

cultural, economic and political economy of West End—key

locations of this enactment of identity include [market, bookshop,

health food store, café, clothes/juggling store] … (Questionnaire:

male, 32).

This thesis research concerns the process of assuming identity, and in particular as

the opening quote suggests, it is about assuming an identity with the assistance of

consumption experiences within servicescapes. The identity of interest here is one

that is collective and place based, the identity of a West End ‘local’. As outlined in

Chapter Three, the West End communityscape can be seen as facing a threat to its

present identity, through urban renewal activities that seek to increase population

densities within the area, and particularly by the targeting of an affluent middle class

with river front apartments. West End faces (escalated) gentrification. Much of the

response to this threat focuses on the influence of the market, reinforced by

assumptions that the increase in market activities that gentrification presumes will

work to damage, or at least commodify, the diversity of the West End

communityscape, and the integrity and authenticity of the market and non-market

based consumption experiences it already offers.

Recent conceptualisations of consumer practices and their relation to the market, as

outlined in Chapter Four, recognise that individuals can use consumption

experiences to creatively engage in authentic, playful and identity defining

experiences that may work to build community type links. This view more closely

reflects the business approach that inspired this research and also suggests a means

of moving beyond the problematic binaries related to consumption practices that are

evident in popular interpretations of gentrification theory discussed in Chapter


Three. This thesis research therefore relies on the frameworks of marketing and

consumer research, particular those relating to consumer identity projects and

marketplace cultures, to investigate the process of ‘assuming’ a placed based

identity. In this way it can incorporate and explore the ways in which servicescapes,

and the individual and shared consumption experiences they offer, may be seen to

play a role in building a ‘local’ tribe.

The language of ‘assuming’ is used to emphasise the subjective nature of the identity

processes under investigation here. Assuming can imply both ‘taking on’ for oneself,

and ‘presuming’ of others. Assuming can also include an element of pretence, which

reminds us that the ‘local’ identity is a mask, and only one of any number of identity

roles an individual may play out (or with) on a daily basis. These assumptions of

identity work as both a classifying and an integrating process (Holt, 1995).

Assumptions regarding others, drawing on real or imagined consumption practices

and motivations, work to classify them as ‘local’, or not. Assumptions regarding the

self are integrating, where an individual uses consumption practices to produce

‘local’ identity defining value.

Assumptions of identity are of course also at work in the binaries of ‘us = authentic’

versus ‘them = consumer culture materialists’ as discussed in Chapter Three. These

assumptions appear primarily to be based on typified perceptions of others as

engaging in consumption practices purely for functional purposes, such as for

materialistic or economic status driven ends. This ‘objective’ behaviour is then used

to classify ‘them’ as outside of, and a threat to, the ‘subjective’ ‘local’ identity. Thus

these generalised assumptions not only serve to classify ‘them’ as a threatening and

destructive force that is, “too powerful for diversity … they consume diversity by

merging with the ‘ideal’”, but also works to reinforce idealised perceptions of ‘us’,

as “people who belong not because they conform to the ‘ideal’ but because they

honour who they are, where they come from and how, as an individual they add to

the tapestry of life” (Questionnaire: female, 26). By stereotyping ‘yuppies’ as ‘ghetto

killers’ it becomes easier to overlook the role ‘our’ consumption practices may play

in the gentrification and commodification of the local.

As noted, this thesis research seeks to move beyond these generalisations, and the

stereotypes they can lead to. Thus, rather than focusing on how consumption


practices can be used to classify people as ‘them’, this thesis research instead

explores how they may work as mutually integrating experiences that reinforce a

shared ‘us’, by focusing on the uniting elements of the social context in which they

occur. In the West End area, locally owned businesses provide such a social context,

acting as key sites for this type of shared experience, in which individuals work to

take on, or integrate the ‘local’ identity, and also where they can observe and engage

with the integrating practices of others.

This chapter, then, explores the ways in which West End ‘locals’ use the small

businesses of the area to integrate and reinforce their localness. It outlines the

relationship between the West End communityscape, the servicescapes that exist

within it and the individuals who use them, from the perspective of resident

respondents, including how these servicescapes come to be seen as locally owned

businesses. For these residents, the small businesses of the West End area not only

operate as convenient amenities from which to access goods and services, they also

play a symbolic role (through their offering and approach), representing the

diversity, integrity, authenticity and friendliness of the area. Indeed locally owned

businesses are key sites in which individuals experience the shared values that define

the West End communityscape and integrate these values into their local identity.

This chapter suggests that examining the broader values that individuals experience

within these servicescapes can provide insight into how a shared identity may be

built through consumption practices. Understanding how this cumulative process

works also provides insight into the role and responsibilities of businesses who wish

to encourage the assumption of a ‘local’ identity that are discussed in Chapter Six

and Chapter Seven.

Firstly though, it is useful to describe the West End area ‘local’ tribe that became

apparent as this thesis research progressed, including the shared values and symbolic

rituals that unite it. By beginning with an understanding of this identity, particularly

the manner in which it is reinforced through ritual interaction in public places, it is

then possible to consider ways in which these identification processes may be

encouraged.


Being ‘Local’: I love West End

Figure 5: Declaring a ‘local’ identity11

The West End communityscape can be defined by its internal diversity and a sense

of difference from the greater Brisbane identity. It is invariably described in media

and marketing publications as ‘bohemian’, ‘eclectic and dynamic’, a ‘melting pot’

and a ‘cultural mecca’, as means of representing its demographic diversity and high

levels of tolerance. As one respondent summarised, it is a communityscape that

contains “a multiplicity of difference that cannot be reduced to quantifiable

‘diversity’” (Questionnaire: male, 32).

Here you can be Bohemian, poor, rich, alternative, trendy, young or

old. You can drive an Audi or ride an old push-bike. You can have

ten earrings in your navel or flame coloured hair, or wear an

immaculate business suit and you fit in regardless. (Brisbane

Magazine, 2006/2007, p. 70).

As this quote suggests, West End area ‘locals’ cannot be defined by demographics or

place of residence and are instead united by shared values and a sense of belonging.

In consumer tribes these are described as the collective ethic and the aesthetic

(Maffesoli, 1996). The collective ethic refers to a shared identity, one that is

expressed here through the values of an acceptance and desire for diversity,

openness and tolerance. These values are often discussed by respondents with

respect to the West End communityscape, and are increasingly used by development

and tourism marketing to represent the attitude of the area as a whole, as the

marketing quote above illustrates. The tribal aesthetic describes the shared sense of

11 The I Love West End campaign morphed from an earlier Shop Local postcard (Figure 6) and sticker campaign. I Love West End stickers are available for sale in many local businesses. A local retailer has also produced I Love West End t-shirts.


“people feeling emotions together” (Maffesoli, 2007, p. 27), a collective attachment

that binds the tribe to the West End area, as is clear in Figure 5, and here:

The people in West End have got this amazing emotional attachment

to the West End, and we all have that, and everyone just loves West

End and everyone would defend it … We love West End. We love

where we live (Key interview: bar owner 1).

The collective sensibility of the tribe, which emanates from the experience of the

aesthetic results in the ethical connection that is the ‘local’ tribal identity (Maffesoli,

1996). This tribe thus includes or excludes according to the expression of that shared

aesthetic, rather than by demographics. Therefore, although the majority of those

who identify as ‘locals’ will live in the West End area, residence cannot be

considered a guarantee of tribal membership. Neither is non-residence a guarantee of

exclusion, given that diversity is a key uniting value of this fluid tribal identity:

That new face that you might see in here on a Friday and Saturday

night might have just moved to West End … we get a lot of people

coming in that don’t live in West End, but they spend 2/3’s of their

life in West End working though they live somewhere else (Key

interview: bar owner 1).

Of all research respondents, business owners in particular held broad notions of what

it meant to be a West End ‘local’, and reinforced the importance of evaluating

localness according to the spirit of the collective ethic, rather than place of residence,

manner of dress or apparent socio-economic status:

… you can’t go into things with preconceived ideas. Regardless of

whether someone is wearing a suit or wearing no shoes, you’ve got

no idea where that person is coming from. Get to know the person,

don’t have a preconceived idea about the person before you’ve even

got to that stage, like nine times out of ten someone’s really going to

surprise you (Key interview: café owner).

Whilst this openness can be linked to a business owner’s vested interest in

maintaining and expanding a customer base, it nonetheless has positive implications


given the urban renewal context, implying a permeability to the ‘local’ identity. This

may work to break down some of the barriers inherent in the generalisations and the

binary assumptions that were highlighted in Chapter Three and discussed above, and

suggests that small businesses in particular may be useful sites in which these

preconceptions can be challenged through publicly lived experiences.

Being ‘local’ is an identity that is lived out in public. It is played out through

everyday actions in the streetscapes, servicescapes and open spaces of the West End

area; “people seem to know each other and I witness people greeting each other in

the street more often than I witness it in other suburbs” (Questionnaire: female, 27).

This is chiefly because ritual and symbolic interactions with other tribe members are

the key manner in which the tribe (re)creates itself and is reminded that it is a whole

(Maffesoli, 1996). Indeed, it is through the repetition of the shared ritualised

experiences of the aesthetic—the routine nods, smiles and waves—that the ‘local’

tribe comes into being. I have called these interactions localness recognition

experiences, and they play a key role in reinforcing the ‘local’ identity, as this

business owner and relatively new ‘local’ suggests:

You can tell someone walking down the street if they are a West End

person or not … it’s just the way, it’s something about it, they walk

the streets like they own them … I would be pretty surprised if I

walked, if I walked to the Commonwealth Bank and back and I didn’t

see at least a couple that I at least felt the need to acknowledge. I

would be a bit surprised, a bit disappointed (Key interview: bar owner

2).

The superficial and fleeting nature of these interactions implies they are not

supported by strong network ties, those with high levels of reciprocity, intimacy,

emotional intensity and time commitments (Granovetter, 1973). Indeed the reliance

on seemingly chance encounters in the public realm highlights the weakness of these

tribal networks; strongly tied networks do not need to rely on chance encounters to

reinforce connections. As the quote above illustrates however, these weak ties

incorporate elements of emotional intensity and reciprocity. In this case, the

reciprocity relates to the acknowledgment of the shared emotional connection.

Acknowledging the localness of others works to reinforce one’s own localness and


strengthen the sense of a shared aesthetic. This suggests the responsibility inherent in

this reciprocity is not toward the individual, but toward the tribe, and that these tribal

bonds, despite their superficiality, can be sufficient to reinforce the collective

identity. It is telling, for example, that this respondent’s expectation (and hope) does

not relate to connecting with any individual in particular, but to a more generalised

experience of the ritual and symbolic acknowledgement that reinforces the sense of

belonging to the tribe. Cova summarises this as “the link is more important that the

thing” (1997, p. 307).

This privileging of the recognition of the ‘local’ identity over the individual, also

hinted at by the use of the all encompassing ‘we’ in the quote regarding attachment

included earlier (see p. 81), highlights the extent to which tribe members assume a

collective bond and reflects Andersen’s (2006) construct of the imagined

community. All communities are in some respects imagined, in that we cannot hope

to meet all our fellow members, yet we imagine these unknown members as tied to

us through the shared bond (Anderson, 2006). In this way, the identity of the tribe

becomes something that exists outside of the individuals that constitute it; it is

disindividualised (Maffesoli, 1996). Thus the collective identity subsumes the

individual, if only for the fleeting moment in which it is enacted. In the West End

tribe, sacrificing the individual identity to that of the ‘local’ opens one to the

aesthetic experiences of public ritualised interaction and recognition and a sense of

place based belonging. It is in this moment of sacrifice that the integration occurs. It

is also a moment that is classifying, as it is always one that is shared with other

members of the ‘local’ tribe. Being ‘local’ becomes an(other) identity an individual

can take on, work to build, and attribute to others.

The disindividualised nature of the West End tribe can be seen in the following

description of a business’ customer base. The fluidity and spontaneity of the

collective identity means that whilst individual ‘locals’ may move on, alter patterns

of behaviour, or play out other identity roles, the sense of the tribe remains. This

quote indicates how the tribal ‘link’ ultimately becomes separated from the

originating ‘thing’; in this case a servicescape, and can thus extend both beyond the

originating experience, and the originating tribe members:


… it’s so large and it is so diverse that it’s not the same people

coming in every day. It’s built up to a stage where you could have all

these different people who have been coming in for an X amount of

time, the [dollar] figures will stay the same, but it will be all a totally

different group of people, but you know them just as well … like

you’ve got all these relationships that have opened up everywhere

throughout, which are totally devoid of you, they have nothing to do

with you, but they happen just to be there (Key interview: café

owner).

This quote also points to the important role of servicescapes in providing locations

for spontaneous interaction, which may also reinforce the tribal identity. Whilst

streetscapes can work to affirm existing tribal connections by providing a large and

varied stage on which to engage in ritual interaction, their openness means they are

less effective as an environment in which to build new links. Servicescapes, by

contrast, are more controlled. Ritual systems to guide behaviour are already in place

and the likelihood of interactions with familiar faces is increased, thanks to the

regular presence of a (usually) small pool of staff. Indeed, servicescapes can operate

in a mentoring manner (Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999), framing the activities of

individuals within a ‘locally’ recognised context. The respondent quoted below, for

example, related how his patronage of a specific locally owned business, the

interactions he engaged in there, and the openness of the physical elements of the

servicescape, helped to establish his tribal identity by associating him with other

tribe members, such as the business owner, staff and other customers, such that he

felt he had been accepted as part of the ‘local’ tribe:

I know that some have made the assumption that I’ve been here

forever simply by the people that they have seen me with. As a

thought it tells me that I have been accepted by a critical community

and have gained a pass to West End (weird as that may sound)

(Questionnaire: male, 30).

It can be summarised, then, that the West End ‘local’ tribe is composed of a group of

residents and non-residents of the area, who have an attachment to the

communityscape of West End. This is an imagined community, bound together by


their belief in a shared set of values—of diversity, tolerance and openness—which

they see as unique to the West End communityscape. This bond is expressed through

public rituals and symbolic interaction, nods, smiles and waves in the servicescapes

and streetscapes of the area, that as experiences of localness recognition work to help

integrate the ‘local’ identity, and classify the localness of those with whom they

interact. These tribal links are likely to be weak. Their public and spontaneous nature

means they exist chiefly in the moment of interaction, rather than as strong ties

based on reciprocal social support. In this way, the ‘local’ tribe is permeable, and

does not preclude the existence of strong network ties outside of the geographic area,

nor the range of other identity roles an individual may take on in daily life.

Through developing an understanding of this ‘local’ identity, particularly the way in

which it manifests itself through interaction in public places, it is then possible to

consider ways in which these tribal identification processes may be encouraged. A

particular question this thesis research sought to explore was the contribution of the

small businesses of the research site to this process of assuming the tribal identity. It

is clear that within the context of the tribe, servicescapes first need to be assumed to

be ‘local’ themselves, before they can begin to assist others to take on this identity.

This is explored in the following section.

Servicescapes as ‘Local’ Places

The business infrastructure of the West End area is an important element of the

amenity of the area, providing access to a range of everyday and lifestyle type

consumption experiences. As the postcard suggests (Figure 6), these businesses are

also seen to make a significant contribution to the identity of the area, through their

uniqueness and independence. One way they may do this, as suggested by the

description of the ‘local’ tribe above, is to become sites of identity enactment for

‘locals’, acting as safe places in which they can interact with others and expand their

tribal network. Yet for servicescapes to play this mentoring role, or to operate as

sites for integration of a ‘local’ identity, they first need to be classified as ‘local’

themselves. This section draws on questionnaire data to outline how this can occur,

that is, how a business can come to be assumed as ‘local’.


Figure 6: Rallying a ‘local’ tribe: a small business postcard campaign12

Assuming business as an ‘us’: “Lots are locally owned which I love”13

Within the West End communityscape, small businesses were consistently noted to

be a key feature of, and contributor to, the unique identity of the area. In their

independence and uniqueness, they were seen to reflect the greater sense of

difference that unites the tribe. “Many businesses are unique/not run of the mill

providing shoppers with a point of difference. West End is very much a community

and most people living in the area support their local businesses” (Questionnaire:

female, 31). The businesses discussed by respondents include fruit and vegetable

shops, bakeries, delicatessens, restaurants, cafés, bars, butcheries, bookstores, the

supermarket, clothing and video stores. That is, they are generally everyday type

businesses where service encounters are likely to be short, repeated regularly, and

may have some habitual elements. A key uniting factor is that they are generally

independent, small, and seen to be locally owned. These factors have come to be

seen as part of the diversity of the communityscape, and are actively promoted by

local business (Figure 6), as well as developers and tourism bodies.

For respondents it was not only the range and independence of small business that

identified them as ‘local’, but also their contribution to the history and culture of the

12 This postcard advertising campaign was put together by a group of West End business owners in 2005, and distributed through businesses in the West End area. 13 Questionnaire: female, 22.


area: “[the] majority of small businesses are locally owned and grown as a means to

not only earn a living but to provide a piece of their experience, knowledge, culture

etc. … Store holders know customer’s names and stories” (Questionnaire: female,

26). Supporting these businesses becomes a means of supporting the broader

community, whilst at the same time reinforcing the individual’s membership of that

community; “I like to support local business, and these are people in my local

community” (Questionnaire: female, 45). This was especially emphasised with

reference to the potential impact of urban renewal, where supporting local business

was seen as a means of maintaining physical and symbolic aspects of the

communityscape, such as business diversity and independence. “I believe that it is

important to patronise local business, (if you don’t they go broke and the shop gets

taken over by a real estate agent, or end up empty)” (Questionnaire: female, 50). As

a collective entity, with a cumulative impact greater than the individual businesses

themselves, locally owned businesses were therefore seen as a representative

element of the greater West End communityscape, they become part of its identity.

Supporting locally owned businesses becomes a way to give back to that

communityscape, and a way of integrating the ‘local’ identity.

The established nature of the tribe meant that the ‘local’ identity of owners and staff

were one way in which businesses themselves came to be recognised as locally

owned. Yet it was also clear that the value offering of the business, and the way that

it contributed to the collective servicescape, significantly informed this identity

assumption. That is, for business, as with individuals, being ‘local’ is defined by a

subscription to the collective ethic: of openness, tolerance and an appreciation of

diversity and its public expression through tribal rituals. A failure to incorporate

elements of the collective ethic within the value offering of the business becomes a

rejection factor (Price & Arnould, 1999). Those businesses that do not subscribe to

the collective ethic may come to be seen as ‘non-places’, servicescapes that serve no

real relational, historical or identity defining purpose, such as supermarkets (Auge,

1995). Or classification may revert to guidelines established by the ‘us’ and ‘them’

binary, where businesses become associated with the commodification process, and

are thus seen as threatening to the tribe. This rejection was apparent in respondents’

discussions of branded chain stores, and provides a useful insight into how identity

assumptions may also work to exclude businesses as an ‘other’.


Assuming business as a ‘them’: “No one likes chain places here”14

Whilst locally owned businesses were seen to reflect and contribute to the identity of

the communityscape, chain stores and franchises were seen to be threatening to the

continuance of the ‘local’ identity. These fears were most commonly expressed in

the context of comments on urban renewal, which was strongly related to a decrease

in the diversity of servicescapes, and a reduction in the quality of the value offering.

Indeed, respondents often reverted to binary arguments, where the ‘them’ became

franchises and chain branded stores that threaten to “drown out local business

owners with competitive prices and modern images” (Questionnaire: female, 26). A

common perception was of an increase of lifestyle type businesses like cafés and

bars, to the detriment of a broader range of everyday resources: “too many

businesses have been priced out of the area and residents no longer have as much

access to resources like delis and hardware and convenience shops as they make way

for another coffee shop or real estate agent” (Questionnaire: female, 44). This

respondent already saw this process occurring, claiming businesses located within a

newer mixed-use development were “more expensive, poorer quality and lack any

authenticity” (Questionnaire: female, 44).

The assumptions of chain stores and newer servicescapes as of low quality and

inauthentic can be related to perceptions of the identity of the West End

communityscape as authentic and unique and is an example of oppositional brand

loyalty (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001). Branded franchises and chain stores contradict the

identity of ‘difference’ for which the collective servicescape of locally owned

business is promoted, instead seen as projecting an idealised identity deemed to limit

the expression of diversity. The strong branding elements of chain stores and

franchises do not generally allow the level of value co-creation that the independent

retailers were seen to be able to offer. In other words, the ‘local’ tribe, and the

individuals within it, are less likely to be willing or able to impress their identity

upon these branded servicescapes, and thus may fail to see experiences within these

servicescapes as having integrating potential. It could be suggested, then, that the

perceived failure of these businesses to clearly offer a ‘local’ consumption

14 Questionnaire: female, 35.


experience becomes the means used to exclude them from consideration. It is also

clear that a business’s willingness to subscribe to the collective ethic is also used as

determinant, as the following example illustrates.

Breaching ‘local’ tribal values: An example of the consequences The contribution

of small business to the identity of the West End communityscape, and their role in

reinforcing the shared values of the ‘local’ tribe, was made particularly clear with the

opening of a new nightclub late in the data collection period. This new business

sought to contribute to the collective servicescape of the West End area by creating a

high quality ‘destination’ venue. The operators saw potential in the urban renewal

activities to transform the West End area into one “above and beyond the Valley and

the City” and thus strove to “make a venue in the key evolving area as the most

evolved venue” (Bar Manager, quoted in Time Off, 30th November 2005, p. 48).

Whilst there appeared to be little public comment during the building and marketing

of the club, there was a significant response upon its opening. This response chiefly

revolved around the bar’s decision to enforce a dress code, including media reports

(and gossip) of an over-exuberant application of that code on opening night. In this

way the new business was seen to have breached the accepted collective ethic of

tolerance and openness, as expressed through an acceptance of a broad range of

styles and standards of dress (see quote on p.79). The response was rapid, public and

potentially damaging for the business, as exemplified by Figure 7. The nightclub

owners responded by holding a public consultation evening, which was poorly

attended and therefore unlikely to have had a significant impact on general public

perceptions.

Figure 7: Public comment on a breach of the tribal ethic

The episode is of interest to this thesis in that it highlights the perceived importance

of business’s role in projecting and reinforcing, and thus accepting, the shared values


of the communityscape. However, it can be suggested that the community response

was rooted in a fear of the other. The nightclub was a potent symbol of

gentrification, and the public response focused on the dress code, and the threat it

represented to the communityscape values of openness, tolerance and diversity.

Specifically, it was the breach of an accepted ‘local’ value that was the chosen

rallying point, rather than the physical presence of the nightclub itself. The

implication is that on an individual (rather than generalised) level, new businesses

are acceptable when they are seen to ‘toe the community line’, but will be publicly

reprimanded if perceived to have breached that trust. It is noteworthy that the

nightclub has relaxed its dress code requirement and advertises this fact. This

servicescape has altered its identity in a manner that enables it to more easily

integrate with the identity of the West End communityscape.

Locally owned businesses can then be seen to play a key role determining the

identity of the West End communityscape, and by extension of those ‘locals’ who

identify with it. These businesses are seen to contribute to and reflect the diversity

and uniqueness of the communityscape, through the diverse product range available

from the collective servicescape and the personalised value offerings of individual

businesses. Thus, supporting businesses that are identified as locally owned is also

seen as a means of expressing support for the communityscape. This works as a

cyclical process, where businesses identified as ‘local’ become more ‘local’ as

familiarity and social links build within them, and this in turn engenders continued

‘local’ support. In this way, a business can come to work as an anchoring point for

the tribe. New businesses are therefore judged not only by their value offering, but

also by the parameters of the tribe, their subscription to the collective ethic and

willingness to engage in the interaction of the aesthetic. This includes their

willingness to allow tribe members to co-create consumption experiences that may

serve to reinforce their tribal identity. Those that are not seen to subscribe to these

values may be boycotted, or at least not acknowledged as a site of ‘local’ identity

enactment, which ultimately may impact on patronage levels.


Experienced Consumer Value in ‘Local’ Servicescapes: Co-creating localness

recognition experiences

Locally owned businesses of the West End area can therefore be seen as part of the

‘local’ tribe, and as key contributors to, and representatives of, the identity of the

communityscape. The range of value offerings and styles of these businesses reflects

the diversity of the area, and offers the individuals who use them the potential for a

diverse range of consumption experiences. The previous sections of this chapter

have described the ‘local’ tribal identity, and the manner in which they view certain

servicescapes within the area as locally owned businesses. This section is concerned

with how the consumption experiences that individuals engage in within these

businesses work to integrate that tribal identity. It is clear in the West End example

that respondents were bringing their communityscape attachment and their ‘local’

tribal connections to bear in their consumption experiences in servicescapes and thus

recognising that servicescapes can reinforce existing ‘local’ connections was

relatively straightforward. However, an aim of this thesis research was to explore

potential ways consumption experiences in small businesses might work to integrate

new residents into the tribe. To achieve this aim, it must be assumed that individuals

have none or a limited social network within the tribe, and only a limited sense of

the ‘local’ identity, from media representations or previous activities in the area.

This thesis research thus sought to explore how the facilities and tribal processes that

exist within the communityscape may enable this ‘local’ identity to be built, as if

from scratch. The importance of the everyday and potentially habitual nature of the

servicescapes which respondents spoke of frequenting, and in particular the manner

in which local consumption practices were situated as ‘different’ from those of an

urban lifestyle, suggested a significance to the mundane, and functional aspects of

product and service related experiences. However it is not a natural leap from

shopping for fruit and vegetables to engaging in ritual and symbolic consumption

practices that reinforce a tribal identity. It was therefore deemed useful to focus

specifically on the value experiences of individuals within the businesses they chose

to frequent, with a view that exploring these individual value experiences may shed

light on how they may develop into the shared experiences of the tribe. The


remainder of this chapter therefore explores the consumption experiences of

respondents in the businesses of the West End area. Firstly the theories of consumer

value that assisted this investigation will be outlined. The impact and significance of

these value experiences, both individually and collectively, and the manner in which

they can be seen to be used as a means of assuming a ‘local’ identity will then be

described.

Experiencing consumer value

As noted in Chapter Four, this exploration is situated within an approach to

consumer research that recognises that individuals contribute to the consumption

experience by drawing on their skills, economic capabilities, social relationships and

cultural experiences, to take up and build on the value offerings of producers

(Arnould, 2007b). This co-creative process implies that such consumption

experiences can become identity defining, with the experienced value working to

reinforce aspects of an individual’s sense of self. As this thesis research sought to

understand which value experiences may be seen as useful for integrating the ‘local’

identity, it was deemed valuable to be able to name, and thus study, the experiences

that respondents described.

The typology of consumer value, proposed by Holbrook (1999c, 2005), emerged

through constant comparison as a useful way to achieve this aim. This is because

Holbrook’s framework indicates specific ‘types’ of value, such as excellence or

efficiency, that were easily related to the examples questionnaire respondents

provided, and later to business owners in interviews questions regarding value

offerings. This typology is based on extrinsic/intrinsic, self-oriented/other-oriented

and active/reactive parameters. Self-oriented/other-oriented parameters account for

experiences of benefit to the self only, or those focused on the reactions of others.

Extrinsic/intrinsic parameters pertain to functional or self-justifying, or ludic

consumption experiences. Active/reactive parameters refer to the relationship

between consumer and product, where things are done by the consumer (active) or

by the product (reactive). These parameters broadly reflect the wider sense of

involvement and detachment encompassed in elements of the theoretical framework,

such as the opposition of detached and functional urban life to the organic and


emotional bonds of community. Unlike the binaries these broader parameters are

often reduced to, the interrelation between these different parameters and the

potential for an experience to generate a range of value of over the duration of the

experience are stressed by Holbrook. The values Holbrook proposes are efficiency,

play, excellence, aesthetics, status, ethics, esteem and spirituality. They relate to the

parameters above as outlined in Table 1.

Table 1: Typology of Consumer Value (Holbrook, 1999b)

Extrinsic Intrinsic

Self-oriented Active Efficiency (convenience) Play (fun)

Reactive Excellence (quality) Aesthetics (beauty) 15

Other-oriented Active Status (success, impression management)

Ethics (virtue, morality)

Reactive Esteem (reputation, materialism)

Spirituality (faith, magic)

Of course, as noted by Brown (1999), in his contribution to Holbrook’s (1999c)

edited volume, ‘typing’ value (as with people) can be an arbitrary process, especially

given the subjective nature of a consumption experience. This is complicated by the

interrelated nature of the parameters proposed by Holbrook, and the difficulty of

clarifying the lines between active and reactive, self and other oriented, intrinsic and

extrinsic experiences (Holbrook, 1999a; Wagner, 1999). It could be argued that this

‘greyness’ draws attention to the subjective nature of value extracted through the

consumption experience, and the influence of contextual elements such as the

operant resources an individual brings to the co-creative process.

15 Holbrook does not use the term aesthetic in quite the same manner as Maffesoli (1996), who refers to it in the broader sense as emotions, feelings, and shared passions (see also Cova, 1997). Holbrook’s definition draws on Kant’s treatment of ‘disinterestedness’ as a means of determining the intrinsic nature of aesthetics, but his application focuses more specifically on the association of the aesthetic with art, beauty and fashion (Holbrook, 1999b; Wagner, 1999). This focus on art and beauty is maintained here when aesthetic value is discussed as an element of a consumption experience.


The values proposed by Holbrook are therefore applied as much to illustrate their

interrelation, as their independence. Attending to the accumulative potential of

experienced value not only highlights the influence of the consumer’s operant

resources, but points to broader considerations businesses may need to take into

account when formulating value offerings intended to appeal to consumer tribes. I

would also suggest that considering Holbrook’s typology within broader

conceptualisations of consumer practices, such as proposed by Holt (1995), can

work to highlight how the cumulative impact of individual consumer value

experiences can work within the broader practices of tribal identity assumptions. For

example, considering Holbrook’s values on a micro, or individual level, and Holt’s

practices on a macro, or tribal level, can highlight how individual value experiences,

such as play, may have integrative value when in a ‘local’ context. Similarly, ethical

and excellence value experiences, whilst working to reinforce elements of an

individual’s identity, may also work to classify servicescapes, or individuals as

members of the ‘local’ tribe.

Questionnaire responses clearly indicated consumer value experiences of efficiency,

excellence and play. Aspects of status, esteem, ethics and spirituality were also

evident, although the means of data collection made it difficult to clearly delineate

active or reactive involvement. Efficiency and excellence were most likely to be

related to product based experiences, whilst play, status and esteem more obviously

draw from the interaction that surrounded them. The implications of these consumer

value experiences on both an individual and tribal level are elaborated on below.

Efficiency and excellence: Individual value experiences

The extrinsic, self-oriented values of efficiency and excellence were the most

commonly discussed and easily recognised values that drove respondents’

servicescape choices. It can be suggested that these value experiences are primarily

meaningful to the individual, as an aspect of their self-orientation, but also in that

they were often appreciated without reference to the social elements of the tribal

identity. These values were derived primarily from products (as ‘good’), and

locations (as ‘close’). The findings match gentrification research conclusions (e.g.,

Ilkucan, 2004; Ley, 1996), and the marketing discourse outlined in Chapter Three,


that suggest that a key benefit of living in inner city areas is the proximity to a

diverse range of products and services that are of a generally good standard, as well

as being unique and interesting.

Efficiency appeared the value most commonly sought out and desired by

respondents. Convenience and accessibility was consistently emphasised as a reason

for choosing specific servicescapes16. Efficiency, as a relation of input to output

(Holbrook, 1999b), may also be linked to familiarity with servicescapes and staff,

which may expedite certain aspects of the consumption experience, such as finding

products or making regular orders. Efficiency may also be related to the range of

servicescapes and value offerings within the communityscape. Having to leave the

suburb to access goods or services was seen as an inconvenience by some

respondents. Others noted they shopped on foot or bicycle and thus easily accessible

servicescapes such as stand alone fruit and vegetable stores and bakeries were more

convenient for their chosen mode of transportation. Overall, experienced values of

efficiency tended to relate mainly to the physical (operand) aspects of particular

servicescapes and of the West End communityscape.

Given the everyday nature of the servicescapes respondents frequented, it is also

expected that these experiences of efficiency stem from habitual consumption

practices. For example, going to the closest convenience store to buy the newspaper

every Saturday morning is both convenient and, if the context remains stable, can

become habitual (Quinn & Wood, 2005; Wood, Quinn, & Kashy, 2002). Since many

respondents expressed concern that the collective servicescape as context would not

remain stable due to gentrification processes, a forced break in habitual behaviour

may be one of the underlying fears driving the extreme responses. The fear of, or

actual threat to, an attachment may invoke similar responses to forced breaks in

habitual behaviour; both have a strong base in ritual practice, albeit with varying

levels of symbolic meaning attached.

The appreciation of excellence was the only value indicated as driving servicescape

choices that was clearly product related, such that servicescapes were frequented for

“the best bread in Brisbane and anywhere else” (Questionnaire: female, 50), for

example. Excellence was also related to the “usually good quality of service” 16 Especially by male respondents.


(Questionnaire: female, 27). As a reactive appreciation, that does not therefore

require a specific experience from which to draw, an appreciation of excellence

value can be seen in the broader statements of support for the collective servicescape

of locally owned businesses in West End. These businesses were appreciated, “for

their authenticity, quality, friendly service, accessibility, integrity” (Questionnaire:

female, 44), and because they are “generally good at what they do” (Questionnaire:

female, 50). Excellence was particularly associated with the diversity of the

collective servicescape, in that it enabled access to a wide range of potential value

experiences, and allowed individuals to seek out specific servicescapes according to

their particular value needs and “depending who I am sharing the experience with”

(Questionnaire: female, 31).

It is possible then to suggest that excellence and efficiency operate as base values,

which individuals seek to have satisfied through their consumption experiences, and

like ‘thrift’ (Miller, 1998) may be combined arbitrarily to achieve a sense of

‘saving’. Excellence and efficiency may therefore be the underlying values that

encourage patterns of ‘regular’ customer behaviour. Individual servicescapes, and a

collective servicescape, that do not offer these values, a wide range of good quality

products and services within convenient location, are therefore unlikely to attract the

ritualised (habitual) use required to develop a familiarity that may grow into a

meaningful link. It is in the relational aspects of the familiarity that opportunities for

shared experiences exist.

Play, status and esteem: Sharing value experiences through social interaction

Whilst the experiences of excellence and value can be seen to be rooted in the

physical aspects of the collective servicescape, experiences of play, status and

esteem draw on interaction and the social context. These value experiences can be

seen to result from the sharing of consumption experiences—with staff, companions,

or other customers in the servicescape. They can also be seen to grow in value over

time and through repetition, such as that made possible through habitual or repeat

purchase behaviour.

Play introduces a ‘fun’ element (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982), an activity engaged

in and enjoyed purely for its own sake and that in this circumstance draws on social


interaction. Play was evident in respondents’ descriptions of interactions in

servicescapes, with most respondents noting friendliness as a key reason for

choosing specific servicescapes. Playful experiences are also an important element

of the ritualised signalling behaviour of the tribe; the waves, and smiles, quick chats

over the counter have intrinsic value.

The values of status and esteem illustrate the ‘fine line’ between Holbrook’s (1999b)

parameters. Holbrook relates status seeking to actively engaging in specific

behaviours so as to construct or manage an image of success, and esteem as the more

passive appreciation of the value to reputation, of possessions for example. Status

value may be seen in patronising a servicescape that operates as an anchoring place

for a social group with whom an individual seeks to be associated, or actively

engaging in signalling behaviour to ‘incite’ a localness recognition experience.

Materialism is an example of esteem, and one that is assumed to be of importance to

‘them’. Yet in a ‘local’ context, the (ethical) value one experiences from supporting

locally owned businesses in their role as community representative role could also be

seen to have (self) esteem value.

Whilst the values of play, status and esteem may be experienced independently, it is

their cumulative impact that is of interest here. These values were often inextricably

intertwined within descriptions of consumption experiences where tribal links were

evident, as illustrated in the following excerpt from a respondent’s answer as to why

she frequented specific businesses. Here, play forms part of the ritualised

interactions, whilst experiences of status and esteem provide the identity

reinforcement:

[I] can get in and served without a problem, see friends there. The

people are fantastic … the girls at [café/delicatessen] are hilarious, all

very real people. They aren’t just places to go, you feel welcomed and

recognised as a local; a personal connection (Questionnaire: female,

35).

Social interaction within the consumption experience is key to this cumulative effect.

Interaction has been shown through research to have a contagious nature, with

reinforcing qualities that can become a driver of repurchase intention (Pugh, 2001;

Tombs & McColl-Kennedy, 2003). This implies that positive interactive


experiences, whether solely playful, or as a moment of localness recognition, can

have an immediate impact, encouraging an individual to linger in a servicescape and

be more open to interaction (Donovan et al., 1994; Tombs & McColl-Kennedy,

2003). Importantly, consumption experiences involving interaction are intrinsically

shared; they have a tendency to escalate and can expand to include others customers

(or non-customers) whom are present within the servicescape. They may evolve over

a series of service encounters, working to build a linking relationship between

customer and staff and may also extend to include other regular customers (Spradley

& Mann, 1975). This contagious nature also hints at how experiences within

servicescapes may extend to people and places outside the originating location, a

feature which will be discussed further in Chapter Six.

This evolving process is clear when respondents talk about their changing behaviour

within a servicescape: “[I used to come] mainly to buy vegies but also to see people

… as I get to know everyone at the markets … now I just hang around talking to

people longer” (Interview: female, 25). Or as indicated here: “[Bar] has a Melbourne

feel sometimes and at first I went there every day, now it is more like my local and I

feel that my patronage is not a reminder of Melbourne anymore, just a great place to

socialise and enjoy the night” (Questionnaire: male, 30). Consumer experiences that

started with a single intent have become more interactive and self-justifying,

increasing the value experience and cementing the servicescape as a site of ‘local’

identity enactment. The opportunities to ‘link’ that these servicescapes offer these

individuals have become at least—if not more—important than the originating

(excellent or efficient) ‘thing’. In the process, these servicescapes are integrated into

the individual’s identity, as sites where they can “socialise and shop at the same

time” (Questionnaire: male, 32), and where they may come to “feel relaxed to be

themselves” (Key interview: café owner). If these identity processes are occurring

within a ‘local’ context, the aesthetic of localness becomes an additional operant

resource able to be drawn on, by either customers or staff within the value offering

and exchange process. Thus an individual may come to not only identify with a

servicescape as a place in which they experience a satisfying range of values,

including interaction and a recognition of being a regular, but also the experience of

being ‘local’.


The value of a variety of places and non-places

It is important to acknowledge that this interactive process of ‘local’ identity

definition in servicescapes do not occur all the time, and in many circumstances

people seek efficient experiences that require minimum input for maximum output,

thus necessitating a range of servicescapes, and flexibility within servicescapes.

Informal conversation and personal experience illustrated that anonymity or at least

minimal active engagement remains an important requirement (and benefit) of urban

living. One acquaintance informally advised of his reluctance to frequent a certain

locally owned business because he did not want the owner, with whom he was

connected via industry social networks, to see him constantly ‘hen pecked’ by his

girlfriend. Networks can sometimes be too connected, particularly when they

overlap. As Kozinets (2002) notes, it is easier for consumers to engage with

communities that are tightly bounded in time and space when they know they are

able to escape them when required.

In the case of the West End ‘local’ tribe, escape is offered by non-places, such as

supermarkets, and branded franchises where ‘tribal’ interaction is unlikely. Escape is

also possible by avoiding the ‘stage’ of the streetscape, or by only drawing on the

self-oriented value experiences of excellence and efficiency. Importantly also,

‘escape’ is offered by a diverse collective servicescape that offers a range of value

experiences framed within the overall collective ethic of the tribe. In this way the

individual can choose servicescapes according to their current value needs, without

feeling ‘trapped’ by specific anchoring sites, nor needing to rely on non-places.

This section has applied theories of consumer value to explore the meanings

generated through consumption experiences within servicescapes. It is clear that the

co-created values of efficiency, excellence, play, status and esteem may all be

experienced on an individual level, and thus reinforce elements of identity unrelated

to the ‘local’ tribe. In a cumulative manner, particularly drawing on the contagious

nature of social interaction, these value experiences can also work to integrate the

servicescape as a site of identity definition, and a ‘safe’ site where the individual

may share experiences with others. This suggests how social links can develop

through a cumulative process of consumption experiences within servicescapes. In

such servicescapes, the efficiency of proximity encourages repeat purchase


behaviour, which allows for playful interaction to build over time into a more

established recognition of an individual as regular customer and ‘local’.

Conclusion: Assuming a ‘Local’ Identity through Consumption Experiences in

Servicescapes

This chapter has outlined the ‘local’ identity of the West End area, using the

theoretical construction of the consumer tribe. This tribe is united by their

attachment to the collective ethic of the West End communityscape, of openness,

tolerance and an appreciation of diversity. This ethic is reinforced through the shared

experience of the aesthetic, the sense of belonging to the collective that is the West

End ‘local’ tribe. The ‘local’ identity becomes one of many that an individual plays

out on a daily basis, able to be cast off or taken up when required.

Being ‘local’ is a public identity, reinforced through symbolic interaction in the

streetscapes, servicescapes and open places of the West End area. The locally owned

businesses of the area in particular play an important symbolic role for this tribe.

Individually, servicescapes can work as a microcosm of the communityscape, as

familiar places in which individuals can safely engage in consumption practices that

may help to build both an individual and a tribal identity. As a locally owned

collective, businesses contribute to the overall identity of the communityscape,

through their (assumed) independence, uniqueness and friendly service. In this

collective role they can act as symbols of the communityscape around which the

‘local’ tribe can unite; to support, protect or boycott according to their assumed

identity.

Conceptualising the community of West End ‘locals’ as a tribe means that it is

possible to position this place based community as one structured through weak

social networks and ‘nodding’ ties, thus moving away from traditional associations

of Gemeinschaft community. This positions the ‘local’ community as something

fluid, and permeable, rather than rigid and exclusionary. Thus, whilst strongly tied

social networks may exist within subgroups of the tribe, the greater tribe of ‘locals’

is united only by their assumed attachment to the communityscape as a whole, and it

is this shared sense of belonging that brings the imagined community together.


Positioning this place based community as a weakly tied tribe also implies the

network associations are easier to build, based on ritualised and symbolic interaction

that reinforces the ‘local’ identity. The symbolic value of locally owned businesses,

and the interactive potential they offer, suggests they act as key sites in which this

identity can be integrated. Exploring the consumer value experienced in these locally

owned businesses has suggested that the accumulation of individual and shared

value experiences within servicescapes can work to build a link between the

individual and the servicescape. Incidences of efficiency and excellence can work as

base level values, which if experienced to the satisfaction of the tribe member may

encourage loyalty and habitual purchase behaviour. Values of play, status and

esteem that can grow through interaction and recognition can build off this repeat

purchase. Thus, adding sociality to the ‘work’ of provisioning becomes value

adding, and can work to inform assumptions about localness, as experiences of

localness recognition. If an individual is seen often enough, interacting with others

within servicescapes assumed to be locally owned businesses, then this individual

can also come to be assumed as ‘local’.

The following chapter explores the role of servicescapes is more detail. It considers

how locally owned businesses can work to encourage the identity assumptions that

build the ‘local’ tribe, by reinforcing and promoting the collective ethic, and by

providing locations in which individuals can engage in the shared experience of the

aesthetic sense of belonging. The manner in which these assumptions can come to be

displaced from the originating servicescape and instead relate to the greater

communityscape will also be discussed; that is, how identity defining links that build

in individual servicescapes come to develop into the attachment of a ‘local’ tribe

member to the communityscape.

Chapter Six: Being a Locally Owned Business 102

Chapter Six

The Advantages and Responsibilities of Being a Locally Owned

Business

… service isn’t a matter of just going through the plastic routine of

things. Doing the atypical, you know you pretty much [are] up front

with people and you are honest and get in to it. And once you break

down those barriers in the way you deal with people, you start to

create an atmosphere where inherently people feel relaxed to be

themselves and that will open them up to meet other people and they

will start to chat amongst themselves (Key interview: café owner).

The locally owned businesses of the West End area are clearly valued by ‘local’ tribe

members, as well as by development and tourism marketers, for their contribution to

the diversity, uniqueness and convenience of the West End communityscape. The

value offerings of these businesses help define and support the identity of the West

End communityscape, and facilitate many of the integration and classification

activities of the ‘local’ tribe. As the quote above suggests, the business model of

those actively engaging in this role extends the standard approach to customer

service. Instead, their value offering requires the active involvement of both staff and

customers and aims to co-create an atmosphere in a servicescape that is conducive to

the building and maintenance of tribal links. It is this openness, and the way that it

can be approached and encouraged by locally owned businesses that is the subject of

this chapter.

As highlighted in Chapter Five, locally owned businesses become ‘local’ by being

seen to subscribe to the collective ethic of the communityscape, and contribute to its

identity through their value offering. Favoured locally owned businesses are those

that offer base values such as efficiency and excellence as well as allowing for

opportunities for playful ritualised interaction. These interaction opportunities can

work as localness recognition experiences—the experience of the aesthetic of tribe.

Locally owned businesses can therefore be seen to be adopting a co-creative


approach relying strongly on relational elements. Along with the product and service

related value offering, the ‘local’ status of these businesses introduces an additional

operant resource that customers and staff can draw upon—the symbolic value of

localness.

As locally owned businesses these servicescapes operate both as anchoring places,

and as places of exposure (Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999). In these roles, they work

both individually and accumulatively as part of the collective servicescape, to

contribute to the identity of the communityscape, reinforce the collective ethic of the

tribe, and provide ‘framing’ locations for the experience of the shared aesthetic. As

anchoring places, locally owned businesses provide (relatively) stable locations

where tribe members can engage in the ritualised interaction that marks the tribe. In

this role, these servicescapes assist tribe members to assume their tribal identity and

make assumptions about the localness of others. As sites of exposure, locally owned

businesses are also communicating the shared values of the collective ethic to those

outside the tribe, and offering an opportunity to experience the aesthetic that binds

the tribe together. In an inner city area that is increasingly promoted as a local tourist

destination and new residential location, this open promotion of the shared values of

the area plays an important role in communicating ‘local’ interpretations of the

communityscape identity.

This chapter draws on interviews with three small business owners and one business

manager, who were seen to be using their businesses to build ‘local’ tribal

connections. One business was a café, two were bars, and the fourth an outdoor

market. The four servicescapes of interest each illustrate different aspects of the

West End communityscape identity and offer a range of consumer value experience

opportunities. One focused on the quality of its product, another tapped into the

values of excellence and aesthetics, expressed through unique elements in the

physical servicescape, the third acted as a location for play, and the final reinforced

ethical values whilst offering a cost efficient and playful environment in which to

conduct everyday type shopping. Whilst the first three may appeal to a relatively

similar target market, the fourth had very broad appeal; all are business types closely

associated with gentrified areas. All offered opportunities for co-creative interaction,

whether with owners and staff, or other customers. Each business had a strong value


offering that was independent of the tribal identity, and would thus satisfy the

individual value needs of customers, whether ‘local’ or not. As businesses

representative of their industry, they had a strong value offering that was well

targeted to an appropriate audience.

This chapter outlines the advantages and responsibilities of being a locally owned

business. In doing so it highlights the manner in which businesses can guide and

inform the integrating behaviours of individuals as they assume the ‘local’ identity,

as well as the classifying behaviours that enable individuals to relate their identity to

that of others. Whilst being locally owned brings economic, social and cultural

benefits to these businesses, and provides them with an additional set of operant

resources from which to create a value offering, they may also be required to use

these resources to manage the activities of the tribe. The key responsibilities that fell

on locally owned business related to support and reinforcing tribal values and rituals.

Businesses managed this through their customer service approach and servicescape

layout, the processes of which will be described here. To complete this chapter, the

ways in which tribal links built through servicescapes can be seen to extend to the

communityscape are discussed. This extension is what works to establish the tribe as

being of the communityscape, rather than of a specific subculture, or attached to a

specific servicescape.

The Advantages of Being a Locally Owned Business: “We’re spoiled because

our regular customers are all nice people”17

Being assumed to be a member of the ‘local’ tribe brings economic, cultural and

social advantages to these West End businesses. The localness tag provides an

additional set of operant resources that can be drawn upon for the value offering and

extraction process. As a set a primarily relational and symbolic resources, these

‘local’ values work to encourage tribal support, offer ‘local’ experiences to ‘non-

locals’, and bring social interaction opportunities into the servicescape.

17 Key interview: bar owner 2.


As noted in Chapter Five, ‘local’ tribe members identify locally owned businesses as

key ways to enact their commitment to the greater collective of the tribe. Supporting

locally owned business supports the communityscape overall, and conversely a

desire to support the community can be satisfied by supporting locally owned

business. Thus, not only are locally owned businesses likely to be chosen over

franchises or ‘non-places’, but they are also more actively supported, implying

loyalty, word of mouth activities, and of course a greater willingness to interact in

the servicescape, which can perpetuate the localness cycle. Being locally owned

therefore becomes a way for businesses to increase their value offering in a

competitive market, with localness working as an additional operant resource from

which both staff and customers can draw to co-create value.

The potential of offering value in line with the broader collective ethic can be seen

by contrasting the example of the bar in Chapter Five with the approach of a second

new venue that opened at approximately the same time. This venue sought to

establish itself as an anchoring venue by allowing and engaging in co-creative

consumer value experiences that reinforced rituals and traditions, and by being seen

to subscribe to the collective ethic. As the business owner notes, it is the subscription

to the values of tolerance and openness and a willingness to interact with customers

that have become the key value offerings of his business, and a reason for its

success:

… everyone will do the same calibre drinks for roughly the same

price, everyone can buy the right CD. What makes or breaks us is our

personalities basically and our strength is as owners we are working

it, so people get to know us … I think it is very hard to separate the

business from the personality, and the reason I think we have

developed a local following is because we are accepting of them and

because we are very relaxed about it (Key interview: bar owner 2).

Examples of how servicescapes may communicate their contribution to, and

reinforcement of the shared values of the tribe, can also be seen in the action of

business owners who publicly comment on political or cultural issues through shop

front displays and notice boards. The clothes store chalkboard included in Chapter

Four (Figure 4, see p. 60), and the Shop Local campaign in Chapter Five (Figure 6,


see p. 86), are both examples of businesses working to promote their value offering

in a manner that draws on and reinforces ‘local’ values of uniqueness and diversity.

These businesses were also using these symbols of localness to reinforce their own

‘local’ identity and place within the greater communityscape.

This localness resource is not only of value to established tribe members, but can

also be used to enhance the value offering made to non-tribe members. As lifestyle

consumption practices become increasingly ordinary and everyday, and inner city

suburbs such as West End are increasingly promoted as sites in which to engage in

these activities, servicescapes such as restaurants, bars and cafés become destination

locations, where visitors can “hang out with locals” (Interview: tourism marketer).

Locally owned businesses that maintain the openness of places of exposure, can

come to operate as ‘local’ exemplars, attracting ‘non-local’ customers who are

seeking that ‘local’ consumption experience. This not only impacts on the ‘icon’

locations, used by marketers as servicescapes that best illustrate their representation

of the area, but on all businesses that potential customers may see as sites in which

to experience localness. This also provides business owners and staff (and

customers) with the opportunity to act as ambassadors for the collective values of the

communityscape as a whole, taking back the representations of the ‘local’ identity,

or at least adding their own interpretations into the mix of information and

experiences from which ‘non-locals’ make their own ‘local’ identity assumptions.

Besides offering economic and promotional benefits, being seen as a locally owned

business can also offer personal benefits for the owners and staff who form their

backbone. Identification with the ‘local’ tribe can bring socialising opportunities into

the servicescape, through customers that ‘socialise and shop’. This can be vital for

small businesses, where owners and staff can spend much of their daily lives within

the servicescape:

I don’t really separate [it] at all, the business, see, because I spend

more time here than anywhere else, my entire social life is based

around talking to people over the bar. I don’t have the opportunity to

go out spending time with people apart from here, so these people are

the people who, as sad as it is, sort of become my proxy friends, my


customers they’re the people who I associate with, who I chat to…

(Key interview: bar owner 2).

As the business comes to be seen as part of the tribe, so do the owners and staff

within it. The value offering of the servicescape becomes intertwined with the

identities of those within it, which both adds to the individuality of the business, and

to its ability to offer personalised service that facilitates the tribal link. It is a cyclical

process that works to build into the strong connections to locally owned businesses

described in Chapter Five. For the business owner, this may work to build a strong

attachment to the ‘service’ that their particular business offers the tribe and their

contribution to the identity of the West End communityscape, as this quote

illustrates:

It’s extended family … And that’s part of the development of the

business as well you know … And if you go down that path, because

at the moment it is my life, and that’s what I do and that’s what I have

created and that’s what I like, you know I love that (Key interview:

café owner).

The strong relations with customers described by these business owners also

highlight how in some cases these tribal links can grow into more strongly tied social

networks of friendships, as suggested by McAlexander et al. (2002). This implies

that tribal bonds that begin as weakly tied do not necessarily remain that way, and

highlights the manner in which clustered social networks or sub-groups may exist

within the broader collective of the tribe.

It can be seen then that there are specific economic, cultural and most importantly

social benefits for businesses that come to be recognised as locally owned. Being

locally owned brings ‘local’ business, as tribe members seek to reinforce their ‘local’

identity and connection to the communityscape through their consumption practices.

Being locally owned also offers businesses a role in communicating the values of the

communityscape. This is especially the case in an urban renewal environment where

inner city suburbs are increasingly promoted as sites for tourist style consumption.

Finally, being locally owned brings social network benefits for owners and staff,

ensuring work is not just work, but also an opportunity to interact with a community.


As discussed in Chapter Five, the locally owned moniker is earned through the value

offering of the business. As outlined at the beginning of this chapter, this value

offering includes specific responsibilities that can be seen to be beyond the basic

premise of customer service. The following section outlines the responsibilities of

locally owned businesses to the ‘local’ tribe.

The Responsibilities of Being a Locally Owned Business

With the benefits of being a locally owned business also come with a series of moral

responsibilities (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001) toward the local tribe, and the

communityscape that supports it. These responsibilities (or opportunities) include

promoting and reinforcing the collective ethic, and encouraging and providing

spaces for experiencing the shared aesthetic. These actions are directed toward the

maintenance of the ‘local’ tribe in an anchoring role, but they also present

opportunities for integrating new tribe members and thus gaining new customers, by

acting as a place of exposure. Further, they work to reinforce the tribal identity of the

business. As Cova and Cova note (2001, 2002), the key role of the company when

marketing products to tribes is to facilitate the ‘link’. In a geographic community

where the collective servicescape contains a range of ‘companies’ this is no

different. Instead of one company working to facilitate the link, it is a collection of

businesses, as the collective servicescape, working to support the link in individual,

different, but mutually beneficial ways. This section describes these processes.

Reinforcing the collective ethic

As noted, being locally owned gives businesses access to the operant resource of

localness. By expressing these values through their servicescape they are reinforcing

their ‘local’ identity, and the identity of the tribe. In their role as anchoring and

exposure places however, servicescapes are sometimes required to wield those

operant resources in a manner that reinforces the shared values that bind the tribe, to

the tribe. The assumptions that individuals use to identify localness can sometimes

contradict the perceived collective values of the communityscape, of openness and

tolerance, and this may require regulation. Whilst identity is always defined with


respect to some ‘other’, these identity assumptions can become exclusionary when

they rely on stereotypical binaries, such as identifying new residents as yuppies. The

negative public reaction to the nightclub, discussed in Chapter Five, illustrates the

consequences for a business that tries to rely on simplistic classifiers, but moderation

of individual behaviour may also be required.

The rituals of tribal membership are one way that collective values are reinforced

and moderated. Playful interaction, for example, is in itself its own reward and can

work as positive reinforcement of behaviour. The business owners interviewed,

however, also highlighted that at times they felt they needed to adopt a firmer role in

reinforcing shared values:

My attitude to this business is that we’re just having a party at our

house every day and everyone’s welcome. And if you treat the bar

with less respect than I would expect you to treat my house, well then

you can go, we don’t want you (Key interview: bar owner 2).

Whilst, in some respects, the need to reinforce acceptable patterns of behaviour may

be a necessary function of their chosen industry, hospitality, concerns regarding

respect, tolerance and openness can also be categorised as an issue of ‘ownership’.

This again reflects the fine line between anchoring places and places of exposure.

Seeking to ‘own’ a servicescape as an anchoring site can reduce its communal nature

and ability to act as a site of exposure. Business owners spoke of the responsibility

of both staff and customers to maintain this openness:

You’ve got to make sure, no one owns the business that’s the thing,

you’ve got to make sure … that like people who go there don’t take

that away, don’t take that degree of ownership away from anyone

else, it is a communal space, it is for anyone to access it (Key

interview: café owner).

It is notable that concerns regarding ownership were more likely to be discussed

with respect to established ‘local’ tribe members, in that tribal claims of ownership

were seen to be exclusionary, and thus against the shared values of openness and

tolerance. This may be seen as a negative aspect of encouraging identity defining

links with servicescapes, and that which marks the difference between an open and


fluid tribe, and a more restricted and exclusionary subculture. These businesses

strove therefore to maintain a “level playing field” (Key interview: bar owner 1) to

prevent such exclusionary assumptions; “so that whether this be your first time or

your 15th hundred time, that’s what you are going to get. You are not going to get

this cold ‘oh who are you?’ or ‘do you know who we are?’ treatment” (Key

interview: café owner).

Maintaining this openness is what enables these businesses to work to integrate new

tribe members. It is of particular value in contexts such as West End where rapid

population increase will introduce a range of new residents who may be more easily

‘typed’ than judged for who they are and how they act. By managing for

‘ownership’, locally owned businesses maintain the exposure role, which can help to

extend definitions of legitimacy, or at least encourage individuals to move beyond

the stereotypes that can drive the classifying assumptions of a (non) ‘local’ identity.

Thus by reinforcing the shared values of the collective ethic, locally owned

businesses can help to reduce the exclusionary classifications that can label both old

and new residents, as welcoming new residents into servicescapes where ‘locals’

already interact is the beginning of their own tribal integration.

Encouraging the rituals of the tribal aesthetic

As well as reinforcing the values of the collective ethic, servicescapes also provide

stable and safe locations in which to engage with the rituals of the tribe. In their

anchoring role, servicescapes can act as ‘guaranteed’ sites of ritual interaction for

existing tribe members. In their exposure role however, they act as tribal training

grounds, situating the rituals of the tribe within the more established rituals of the

service encounter. The value offering of the servicescape is an important element of

this training; and it is suggested there is a moral responsibility on locally owned

businesses to maintain a servicescape where opportunities for respectful and playful

interaction are possible. This may involve elements of reinforcement of the

collective ethic as discussed above, but is more likely to require the approach

described in the quote that opened this chapter (see p. 102), where both customers

and staff are involved in creating a relational environment. One business owner for

example spoke of correcting customer’s manners, or reprimanding them when they


were rude to staff (Key interview: bar owner 2). His point was that being nice is not

just a requirement of customer service staff, but that friendly and open customer

service interactions that can grow to have localness recognition value must be co-

created. It is from these respectful and interactive experiences of shared value

creation that customers may see a servicescape as a place they are able to relax and

feel comfortable to be themselves, and from where localness recognition experiences

can grow. As one business owner noted, “if you want to break people’s barriers

down you want to make them feel welcome, or [be] as understanding as possible”

(Key interview: café owner).

The physical elements of the servicescape play an important role in encouraging

these interactive experiences and allowing tribal links to develop (Aubert-Gamet &

Cova, 1999; Cova, 1997). Fluid physical environments, which allow for the free

movement of customers, can also allow for observation of and inclusion in ritual

interaction. For ‘training’ purposes, this flexibility in the environment allows ‘non-

locals’ to learn about the local tribe. Flexibility within servicescapes also allows

‘locals’ to remove themselves from the activities of the tribe if so required.

All four servicescapes examined here combined elements of openness and flexibility

that allowed individuals to move freely within the space, but also brought them

together in moments where interaction was possible. The café and two bars,

especially, relied on stools that were easily moved rather than tables and chairs, and

open seating spaces that customers could reconfigure as desired. This allows the

customer to co-create the physical layout of the servicescape, and alter it according

to their current value (and interaction) needs. These three businesses also made use

of the permeable line between the servicescape and streetscape, spreading customers

onto the footpath when numbers required, effectively increasing the size of the

servicescape, and introducing opportunities for interaction with those within the

streetscape.

Being locally owned can therefore be seen to bring both benefits and responsibilities

to the business. Whilst ‘local’ ownership implies ‘local’ support, businesses need to

work to both maintain their localness and that of their customers. By promoting and

reinforcing the collective ethic, locally owned businesses can both train potential

‘locals’ in the ways of the tribe, and remind established ‘locals’ of their


responsibility to the maintenance of the collective ethic. Operating places where

‘locals’ can co-create an environment for playful interaction is one means of

ensuring this, using positive experiences as a reinforcing tool. But businesses may

also employ more direct tactics, such as using the personality of their business to

directly comment on the communityscape identity, or personally commenting on the

behaviour of tribe members.

Servicescapes as New Spaces for Sociality

Locally owned businesses can be seen therefore to operate as more than convenient

locations from which to access goods and services; they also act as key spaces in

which the tribe in brought into existence. They provide spaces for sociality that are

neither public nor private, and that are instead a ‘common ground’ for the ‘local’

tribe (Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999), where ritualised interaction reinforces the tribes

existence and commitment to the collective ethic.

The importance of the provision of new spaces in which people can meet and

interact cannot be overlooked in the context of urban renewal, which can work to

increase populations without commensurate increases in public space. Cafés and

bars of course cannot replace true public space, and can work to exclude certain

demographics of people such as those on lower incomes or who have little interest in

that type of lifestyle offering. Yet increased access to servicescapes such as offered

by mixed-use developments, does have the potential to increase opportunities for

meaningful social interaction for large numbers of people, this is a value that should

be emphasised. This potential is of course dependent on a meeting a range of

parameters already outlined; chain stores, non-places, or generic locations with little

authenticity or opportunity for sociality have limited value for the tribe. For new

spaces to be successful, their value offering needs to be in line with, and add to, the

collective ethic of the communityscape, and they need to be willing to take on tribal

moral responsibilities.

The outdoor market is an example of a servicescape that has worked to open up a

range of opportunities for sociality as well as to subscribe to underlying values of the

communityscape. Indeed, this market could be seen to epitomise the tribal attitude to


consumption practices, offering efficiency through convenience and low prices,

excellence and ethics through farm direct and home-made products, aesthetics

through its park location, status and esteem through its considerable opportunities for

interaction and recognition, diversity through its wide range of stalls, and thus value

offerings, and openness through its fluid servicescape that allows a range of spaces

for individuals to gather and interact:

… it’s a real social life, especially people with kids and babies, you

know you can’t go to cafes really with little kids, you know here you

can cause it’s in the middle of a park and they can run around. I love

seeing all the families playing on the field. I think it community wise

I think it is fantastic … Like so many people come and say to me

“this is my only social life”, cause they’ve got little babies and …

they can’t go out during the week, if they think anything is going to

happen to it they get pretty upset (Key interview: market manager).

The social opportunities offered by this servicescape are particularly important,

working to include individuals who may be unable to use other services due to life

circumstances (such as having young children). It also works in many ways to

replace the need for a ‘non-place’, the supermarket, with one that is social, cultural

and concerned with identity (Auge, 1995), in particular the identity of the

communityscape. Contrary to the perception of the privatisation and

commercialisation of the public space of parks, as “domestication by cappuccino”

(Sorokin, 1992; Zukin, 1995, p. xiv), in this example adding a commercial activity

has increased the value of a public space for a large number of people. In particular,

this new shopping space benefits demographics (families and low income) that are

generally assumed to be excluded from more typical social consumption based

activities such as bars and cafés. As the market manager noted, “you go to a park

there’s no coffee, no other adults to talk to or anything, you just sit there while they

[the children] are playing. Here you can socialise more”.

Markets have been recognised in both gentrification and consumer research as

consumption spaces that reinforce local authenticity through their value offering

(Ley, 1996; McGrath et al., 1993). In this context, the success can be seen to be in

part an element of the unregulated manner in which this public space has been


commercialised, and the specific fit between the value offering of this market, and

the collective ethic of the communityscape in which it exists. The variety of stalls,

the range of value offerings they are able to make, and the diversity of people who

are thus able to co-create a consumption experience, coupled with the natural

environment (shady trees in a riverside park), combine to create a consumption

environment that is anything but domesticated. This serves to reinforce sense of the

‘local’ as operating outside the mass market, but also exponentially increases

opportunities for the spontaneous interaction upon which the ‘local’ tribe thrives.

Whilst this market may also become a victim of its own success, as popularity and

the resultant crowding restricts spontaneous movement, it has been relatively

protected from co-option by the ‘global’ due to its park location and ‘local’

management. Indeed, the biggest threat faced by this servicescape came from

disputes regarding the sharing of public space with other local organisations (which

required Council intervention to resolve), and the health of the trees that shade and

symbolically frame it.

This section has drawn on the specific example offered by an outdoor market to

illustrate how servicescapes can work to broaden the spaces of sociality available to

the ‘local’ tribe, and thus work to enhance it. These servicescapes must be seen to

subscribe to the collective ethic of the tribe, and in themselves, have a compelling

value offering. In particular, by offering an alternative to a non-place, or occupying a

space where social interaction was limited, servicescapes can work to extend the

exposure potential of the collective servicescape, and thus offer additional

opportunities for tribal interaction and integration. To clarify, this is not an argument

for the mass commercialisation of public space by servicescapes, but the example of

the market does suggest that introducing a consumption opportunity has increased

opportunities for interaction and offers an opportunity for a shared consumer value

experience that reinforces the underlying values of the communityscape. Indeed, this

co-option of public space is already evident in the public nature of the tribe, which

uses the streetscapes of the area as an anchoring site in which to reinforce their tribal

membership through spontaneous interaction with others.


Sharing the ‘Local’ Identity: Emplacing tribal bonds within a communityscape

This thesis so far has focused primarily on the emplaced activities of the ‘local’

tribe, those that occur within boundaries of the servicescapes of the West End area.

Yet, as discussed above, these boundaries are fluid and increasingly bleed into, or

make use of public space. The permeability of the boundary between the streetscape

and servicescapes is a key way in which the tribe becomes a ‘local’ tribe, rather than

a series of social groups anchored within specific servicescapes. The streetscape

works as a connecting space between servicescapes that binds them as a collective

servicescape and which together are a physical manifestation of the

communityscape.

As the tribe is primarily based on public interaction, the combination of the

collective servicescape and the streetscape work as a theatre in which this tribe is

manifested and its rituals performed. As anchoring sites, they are the stage on which

established tribe members interact, and as exposure sites, they provide an audience

to witness these tribal performances. It is the cumulative impact of this show of

localness recognition within the collective servicescape and the streetscape that truly

defines and binds West End locals into the ‘local’ tribe. This section outlines the

roles and relationships between servicescapes, the collective servicescape and the

streetscape in working to emplace this consumer tribe.

As outlined in Chapter One, the collective servicescape can be understood as the

accumulation of a series of individual servicescapes that are linked through their

physical location, within the West End area, but also their symbolic association with

the communityscape. Thus the collective servicescape of the West End

communityscape could be described as a series of locally owned businesses, branded

franchises and chain stores and non-places, that offer a diverse range of consumption

experiences, through different business types, and also different value offerings from

similar business types. The identity of the communityscape draws on the totality of

this collective servicescape, such that the presence of non-places is as important as

that of locally owned businesses in defining the tribe. As noted in Chapter Five, this

diversity in value offerings allows ‘locals’ to choose servicescapes according to

current value needs, and escape the tribe when required. The comprehensive range of


value offerings in the collective servicescape also reduces the likelihood that

individuals will need to leave the area to satisfy their consumption needs. This

increases time spent in the communityscape, and the opportunities for interaction

that can stem from that.

The collective servicescape can therefore be seen to offer a range of ‘local’ and

‘non-local’ consumption experiences, which can cumulatively work to build a sense

of localness. Its unifying role works through the cumulative communication of the

collective ethic of the tribe, and the repetition of experiences of localness across a

range of servicescapes. As this localness element is repeated, in the bakery, the fruit

and vegetable shop and the pub, the sense of the shared localness aesthetic can be

displaced from any one servicescape and generalised into an experience that is

grounded within the communityscape. It is here that the physical and ideological

aspects of the communityscape combine, and the experienced value of the collective

ethic comes to symbolise the value of the greater communityscape itself.

Thus whilst the transferability of the tribe between locally owned businesses with

similar value offerings may be of concern to the profit margins of individual

businesses, it is of less significance to the strength of the ‘local’ tribe, provided those

consumption activities remain within the collective servicescape. That is, from the

perspective of the tribe, it is the strength of the cumulative linking value offering and

its relation to the collective ethic that maintains the tribe

This shift is facilitated by the streetscape, the public space that binds the tribe to the

communityscape. As a public space, tribal behaviours are most observable, and

obtainable, within the streetscape. As the business owner and new ‘local’ quoted in

Chapter Five illustrated (see p. 82), tribe members assume tribal interaction within

the streetscape, but this interaction is not a certainty. It is this element of surprise

that brings the spontaneity of the tribe. This inability to ‘choose’ also works to

maintain the breadth of the tribal network, and is in essence a key element of the

tribe’s openness.

Yet the permeable nature of the boundary between the streetscape and the

servicescape also works to unite these locations as sites of exposure, places from

which it is ‘safe’ to study the tribal rituals and relations. Thus, whilst it is possible to

observe interaction between others within servicescapes, it is also possible to


observe tribal rituals from outside of the location in which they are occurring; from

the servicescape to the streetscape, or the streetscape to the servicescape. This

visibility can be enabled through the physical servicescape, through outside seating

and an open street frontage for example. An attitude of openness and the willingness

to operate as a site of exposure can also work to facilitate this iterative learning

process. As a public identity, the West End ‘local’ tribe is as much determined by

seeing, as it is by doing, thus this physical and social openness is vital. Indeed,

localness recognition experiences are only of tribal value because they exist in a

‘local’ social context. Assuming the ‘local’ identity is as much about being seen by

others to be ‘local’, as it is about seeing oneself as such.

Conclusion: Building a ‘local’ tribe through servicescapes and streetscapes

Assuming a ‘local’ identity is a gradual and organic process, developed and

reinforced through the repetition of similar ritualised interactions across a range of

locally owned businesses, and in the streetscape that connects them. Based on the

theory of the consumer tribe, this ‘local’ identity exists chiefly within moments of

interaction. The fleeting nature of these interactions means they do not offer the

certainty of strong social networks, or those based on organised activities. Thus,

whilst there may be some certainty you will see someone of the ‘local’ tribe when

you walk down the street, there can be no certainty as to who that person will be.

Locally owned small business present an exception to this ambiguity. They generally

have a small pool of staff, and owners are more likely to have a strong presence

(especially within new businesses). For ‘locals’ looking for some ‘local’

(inter)action, servicescapes reduce the uncertainty, not only in the manner

traditionally associated with the pub ‘where everybody knows your name’, where

social networks may be anchored, but also through everyday service encounter based

interactions that bring sociality into the work of shopping; such as in bakeries and

fruit and vegetable shops. In these roles, locally owned businesses act as both

anchoring places and places of exposure, where established tribe members can

reinforce the ‘local’ identity through ritualised and symbolic interaction, while they


shop, and where ‘non-locals’ can be exposed to elements of the collective ethic and

witness the shared experience of the aesthetic.

Taking on this role, as a locally owned business, and thus ambassador for the

identity of the community, brings with it both benefits and responsibilities. As

locally owned businesses are key sites in which members of the ‘local’ tribe

reinforce their commitment to the communityscape, locally owned business are more

likely to be chosen over ‘non-local’ competitors. Promotion of the collective ethic of

the tribe through their value offering enhances a business’s ‘local’ identity, thus

feeding into this preferential process. Yet locally owned businesses are also required

to reinforce the collective ethic, and in particular to manage ‘ownership’, which can

work to restrict the openness of the servicescape, and ultimately the tribe. These

servicescapes can also open new opportunities for sociality, by encouraging

interaction and the rituals of the tribe. Bringing interaction into the servicescape has

benefits for staff and owners as well, and was noted by all business owners

interviewed as vital to their personal social and emotional wellbeing.

Locally owned servicescapes cannot build a place based tribe on their own. It results

from an accumulation of servicescape and streetscape based experiences, united by a

collective ethic that works to build an imagined collective bond to the

communityscape. Servicescapes can breed the first part of this process, creating links

between specific groups within the tribe and, through the accumulation of localness

experiences contributing to the broad sense of a ‘local’ identity. Streetscapes offer

access to the broader tableau of the ‘local’ tribe, providing that vital uncertainty and

spontaneity that maintains the vitality of the tribe (Maffesoli, 1996). It is only

through this public process, of assuming and being the subject of assumptions, that

the tribe becomes real.

Chapter Seven: Localness from shopping 119

Chapter Seven

Conclusion: Localness from Shopping

This thesis research was initially inspired by the business model of the café owner,

which was based on the premise that “hospitality is an integral part of community”.

A key aspect of the value offering of his business was to encourage customers to

build social links through interaction within his servicescape; he saw the opportunity

to use his business to create an environment “where it is actually a hub for people to

explore what is in their local area”. This premise is explored within the context of

urban renewal activities using a theoretical framework developed from marketing

and consumer research, to determine if this approach can be seen as an effective

means of maintaining a place based community within an inner city suburb facing

population growth and fearing commodification. Using a constructivist grounded

theory method, described in Chapter Two, this thesis research conceptualises the

process of interest, as the assumption of a local identity through consumption

experiences in servicescapes, and has then explored the manner in which this

process may be encouraged by business owners, as a means of building a ‘local’

tribe.

The problem that guided this grounded thesis research was defined in Chapter One

as; how can the residents of an established geographic community use consumption

experiences to build a local identity? A particular area of interest within this

problem was; how can small businesses contribute to this identity defining process?

Drawing from the research context, of a inner city suburb facing change due to urban

renewal, this thesis research was also interested in the implications of research

findings for the identity of the community as whole, and any potential these findings

may offer in terms of suggesting means of assisting the integration of new residents

that urban renewal brings. This thesis can be summarised with reference to these

research concerns as follows.

Chapter Three and Four outlined the physical and theoretical framework in which

this thesis research was considered. Chapter Three focused on the research context,

in particular the contrast between the discourses that suggested a ‘new liveability’

that married consumption based lifestyles with community, and the reactive


responses that saw the urban renewal process linked to this ‘new liveability’ in light

of traditional binary that presents the ‘global’ and the mass market that represents it,

in opposition to community. Such a context is one that has been considered

elsewhere under the auspices of gentrification research, and many aspects of the

context suggest the urban renewal activities occurring within the West End area

could be considered under broad definitions of gentrification.

Yet despite its broad basis in consumption practices, gentrification research tends to

leave its demand side drivers relatively unexamined (Jackson & Thrift, 1995; Warde,

1991), chiefly due to its consideration of gentrification as a class-based process

(Redfern, 2003; Wynne & O'Connor, 1998). In essence in gentrification research,

this ‘new liveability’ becomes the lifestyle of a fragment of the middle class. This

thesis argues that in this context such a perspective worked to obscure non-class

based motivations for consumption practices and perpetuated the divisive use of

barrier stereotypes such as that of the ‘yuppie’. It argues instead that consideration of

the consumption practices implied in urban renewal within a framework of

marketing and consumer research, as presented in Chapter Four, offered new

insights in an area that clearly remains a theoretical and practical concern.

The theoretical framework outlined in Chapter Four therefore emerged from

consideration of the research context, and the developing categories of the grounded

theory, as recommended within grounded theory procedures. The key elements of

marketing and consumer research that were seen to be able to advance the issues

outlined in Chapter Three were the broad perspective adopted toward the

consumption practices that are encompassed within Consumer Culture Theory

(Arnould & Thompson, 2005), and exemplified by the Service-Dominant Logic

(Vargo & Lusch, 2004). This perspective on consumer behaviour sees consumption

experiences as co-created by producer and consumer (Vargo & Lusch, 2004), where

experienced value is subjective (Caru & Cova, 2007b; Holbrook, 1999b), and able to

be considered as a means of building community type links (Cova, 1997). As

emotional communities, the consumer tribes that build around co-creative

consumption practices represent a response to the isolating tendencies of the

individualism encouraged by the global mass market (and the associations of the

city), as ephemeral collective identifications engaged in as part of an individual’s


multiple identity projects (Cova & Cova, 2002; Cova et al., 2007a; Maffesoli, 1996).

This thesis research particularly focused on how these consumer tribes may develop

in, and through, the value offerings of servicescapes, such as cafes, bars, fruit and

vegetable shops, which can be highly symbolic and relational contexts (Sherry,

1998b), but also have a strong everyday element, and are an important aspect of the

‘new liveability’ claims outlined in Chapter Three.

Chapter Five and Six focused on the research data, and were broadly divided

according to the two research concerns outlined above. Thus Chapter Five primarily

focused on the consumption practices of individuals, and the manner in which they

informed their ‘local’ identity assumptions. Chapter Six outlined the role of

servicescapes in the process, highlighting the ways they can be seen to support the

West End ‘local’ tribe both individually, and collectively. The research findings

outlined in these chapters can be summarised as follows:

• ‘local’ tribe members used the value offerings of businesses to make

assumptions regarding localness, and supported businesses assumed to be

locally owned as a means of expressing their attachment to the greater

communityscape

• ‘local’ tribe members used the value offerings of locally owned businesses,

and in particular the social and symbolic operant resources, to build tribal

links, with staff and other customers

• locally owned businesses contributed to this process by encouraging the co-

creation of localness recognition experiences and by allowing their

servicescapes to operate as anchoring sites and sites of exposure for the

‘local’ tribe

• locally owned businesses maintained the strength of the tribe, and promoted

the identity of the communityscape, by reinforcing the collective ethic of

openness, tolerance and diversity. It is this subscription to the collective ethic

that guides the identity assumptions of ‘locals’ regarding the localness of the

business.

In addition to these findings, the vital role of the streetscape as a stage on which to

reinforce these tribal links became apparent. The streetscape worked as a uniting and


grounding place, where localness recognition was experienced as displaced from the

originating servicescapes. United by their geographic proximity and symbolic

association, tribal linking experiences in the streetscape and the collective

servicescape evolved into the attachment bonds of the West End ‘local’ community

to the West End communityscape. It is through this complete cyclical and

cumulative process that individuals used consumption experiences within

servicescapes to assume a ‘local’ tribal identity.

The remainder of this final chapter draws three specific conclusions from the

research findings summarised above. It then explores the implications of these

research findings for theoretical areas from marketing, consumer research and

gentrification theory, and the practical relevance for inner city areas facing urban

renewal. Finally, suggestions for future research applications that could work to

determine the usefulness of the grounded theory of assuming a ‘local’ identity are

presented.

Research Conclusions: Hospitality is an integral part of community

The theory of assuming a ‘local’ identity through consumption experiences within

servicescapes relies on a series of findings grounded within the research data that

support and extend the theories of marketing and consumer research reviewed in

Chapter Four and have implications for research contexts similar to that described in

Chapter Three. This section draws conclusions from the findings summarised above,

and relates these conclusions to theory and practice. The conclusions can be

summarised as follows:

• It is possible to consider a place based community as a consumer tribe

• Servicescapes as tribe members can work individually to build, support and

reinforce a place based tribe through their value offering

• Symbolically associated ‘scapes’ can work cumulatively to support, reinforce

and ‘ground’ a place based tribe


It is possible to consider a place-based community as a consumer tribe

The ‘local’ community of the West End area can be conceptualised as a consumer

tribe, a weakly bound collective of people united around a shared experience of

interacting with and within the physical, social and symbolic elements that

cumulatively form the West End communityscape. Consumer tribes form around a

shared experience of a brand or activity, with which they engage in a co-creative

process to build social links with others (Cova & Cova, 2001, 2002; Cova et al

2007a). In the West End ‘local’ tribe, the brand is the communityscape of West End,

and the activities are living, working, visiting, shopping, eating; all the living of life

that occurs within a geographic place. This is an entrepreneurial tribe (Cova et al.,

2007a), in that by being ‘local’, they co-create the identity of the communityscape

around which they unite, contributing to its physical, social, and ideological aspects

through their actions and interactions within the streetscapes and servicescapes of

the area.

Consumer tribes use a range of ritualised and symbolic practices to integrate the

tribal identity and classify others according to that identity; these rituals primarily

work to reinforce the existence of the tribe, as moments of shared interaction (Cova

& Cova, 2002; Maffesoli, 1996). ‘Local’ tribe members engage in integrating and

classifying rituals that work to reinforce the tribal identity and assumptions made

about the identity of others. These rituals can be nods, smiles and waves, small signs

of a shared recognition of localness. They can also be consumption practices; in

particular the support of locally owned businesses was seen as a means of

establishing legitimacy and reinforcing the narrative of ‘community’. As tribe

members locally owned businesses had a moral responsibility to support the tribe in

these actions, in particular by aiding their use of the West End brand and working to

integrate new tribe members.

By exploring a consumer tribe within a place-based community, this thesis advances

research on consumption communities, in particular by expanding understandings of

where consumer tribes may occur and what they may form around. Previous

research has primarily focused on brands (including human brands) or experiences

facilitated by consumption (Cova & Cova, 2001; Cova et al., 2007b; McAlexander et

al., 2002; Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001). Whilst the West End context can be understood


as a brand, due to its ideological construction, and an experience facilitated by

consumption of and within the communityscape, it is also a place, something not

considered within the realm of consumer tribes. The tribe discussed here is formed

through the experience of a place, rather than within one. This formation is aided by

the rich social context and high geotemporal concentration that is possible in a

geographic community (McAlexander et al., 2002). However the tribal aesthetic was

still experienced in a fragmentary way, across a range of different, but linked

locations. This highlights the strength of the ‘imagined’ aspects of consumer tribes

and the manner in which tribe members draw on their own operant resources, such

as previous experiences in servicescapes, to build an overall tribal picture.

Whilst it is not surprising that a community would exist in a geographic place, a

weakly tied imagined community of individuals who use consumption experiences

to express their support for a geographic community is a different conceptualisation,

and in this respect this thesis also contributes to the understandings of the formation

of place based communities generally. This may have particular relevance to studies

of gentrification, where there is a recognition that gentrifiers may wish to build

community type links, in places where there are ‘people like us’ (Butler & Robson,

2003), but also exhibit a willingness to experience diversity by engaging with the

‘other’, a feature of the ‘cosmopolitan’ identity (Young et al., 2006). Butler and

Robson (2003) propose that the ways in which different class groups within diverse

communities interact are ‘tectonic’, a relationship based on awareness and a little

rumbling, but no substantial interaction across groups. A tribal view proposes that on

an individual level these group boundaries can breached through the aesthetic, where

there is less of an ‘obligation’ for these ‘gentrifiers’ to commit to ‘contractual’ links,

and a greater emphasis on the experience of interaction itself. This slight shift in

focus therefore contributes to gentrification research in suggesting a different

perspective from which to approach explorations of how gentrifiers engage with the

communities in which they chose to live.


Servicescapes as tribe members can work individually to build, support and

reinforce a place based tribe through their value offering

As spatially defined consumption spaces where producers and consumers come

together to interact and exchange, servicescapes are well recognised as sites with

significant symbolic and relational potential (Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999; Bitner,

1992; Pugh, 2001; Sherry, 1998b; Tombs & McColl-Kennedy, 2003). Servicescapes

can communicate symbolic messages about identities (Rosenbaum, 2005; Sherry,

1998a), encourage co-creative interaction (Caru & Cova, 2006) and friendships

between customers and staff (Otnes, 1998; Price & Arnould, 1999), and work to

build community type links (Arnould & Price, 1993; Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999).

In this thesis research, servicescapes could be seen to be engaging in these roles on a

general level, in their value offering to customers, and on a tribal level, where the

offerings were experienced through the lens of tribal membership. Being assumed to

be ‘local’ brings value to businesses through ‘local’ support, and inclusion in ‘local’

social networks, it also brings a moral responsibility (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001), to

reinforce the collective ethic and enable tribal interaction. Locally owned businesses

operated as anchoring sites for established tribe members, where ritualised

interaction is assured, and also as sites of exposure, where ‘non-locals’ can

experience the rituals of the tribe in a ‘safe’ environment (Aubert-Gamet & Cova,

1999). It is perhaps most appropriate to think of locally owned businesses as

(everyday) brandfests (McAlexander et al., 2002), where localness becomes an

operant value, able to added to the order of bread, coffee or fruit and vegetables.

This thesis research applies the typology of consumer value proposed by Holbrook

(1999b), to advance the work of Aubert-Gamet and Cova (1999) on the manner in

which servicescapes may work to facilitate linking value by attempting to establish a

clearer understanding of these linking consumption experiences and the manner in

which they might be encouraged by businesses. Aubert-Gamet and Cova (1999)

propose two key ways to re-enchant servicescapes and encourage tribal links; to

reduce the functionality of layouts, adding recesses, corners, places for people to

hide and people to meet, and to introduce elements of surprise and spontaneity. The

first proposal was clearly supported, with the flexibility to co-create the physical

aspects of the servicescape being an important aspect of the approach of the


servicescapes discussed. The spontaneity is similar to that proposed by Maffesoli

(1996) as underlying the existence of the tribe, and has been interpreted here as both

the intrinsic experiences of playful interaction, and the experience of localness

recognition, a combination of playful interaction and the mutual identity

reinforcement of status and esteem.

Elements of play were a highly appreciated element of the value offerings of

servicescapes assumed as locally owned, and a key aspect of the social interaction

experiences that grew into those of localness recognition. Thus it can be confirmed

that surprise or spontaneity, when interpreted as play assisted in the linking process.

Yet the majority of the servicescapes discussed here were familiar to respondents

and could be seen to be playing an anchoring role. In these circumstances a pre-

existing expectation of interaction was evident. This expectation may have worked

to downplay the reactive elements implied by surprise and incorporate an active

process, where tribe members seek out the status reinforcing experience of localness

recognition. Thus the linking potential of servicescapes in these instances can be said

to reside in the probability of the experience of localness recognition, rather than the

uncertainty.

This pre-existing expectation of interaction highlights the cumulative element of the

value experiences that work to build the tribal link. Experiences of excellence and

efficiency can work to establish repeat purchase behaviour, which allows for the

processes of exposure and observation that work as classifying and integrating

processes and over time encourage identity assumption. This cumulative aspect may

be a feature of the context, in that the West End area collective servicescape was a

competitive business environment where a range of similar business types offered

‘local’ value. In these circumstances localness is not enough, instead businesses first

needed to satisfy base functional values of excellence and efficiency. But as

relational value has an iterative element even if confined in one consumption

experience (Vargo & Lusch, 2004), there remain some implication of a hierarchical

process of evaluation and relaxation, that enables playful interaction, and linking

experiences to develop.

In this context I would therefore modify Cova’s (1997) mantra to suggest when

considering building tribal links through servicescapes that ‘the link is sometimes


more important than the thing’. Where the thing, efficiency and excellence,

maintains the habitualised use, where as the link, built through playful interaction

and leading to experiences of localness recognition, works to perpetuate the tribe.

This is the case because of the significant influence of those base thing values, which

are constantly evaluated against the additional value of the link. Thus whilst the loss

of a tribal link, a change in staff for example, may send a customer to another locally

owned business, so may a reduction in quality or convenience. This is so because

experienced value is subjective, and because different servicescapes offer different

combinations of value experiences that may be sought out by ‘locals’ according to

their current value needs and the particular identity roles they may be playing.

In particular then, through the exploration of the manner in which the value offering

of servicescapes can work to build tribal links, this thesis research extends Aubert-

Gamet and Cova’s (1999) propositions by conceptualising the linking value they

propose that servicescapes can build, as integrating experiences that are the result of

an accumulation of playful interaction that also has status and esteem value. Whilst

these interactions are highly relational and accumulative, they reflect the high

geotemporal concentration and rich social context (McAlexander et al., 2002) in

which the consumer tribe is constructed. Applying the typology of consumer value

proposed by Holbrook (1999b) is a basis for extension to different tribal contexts.

This research conclusion can also claim some implications for gentrification theory.

By exploring the relations between individuals and servicescapes the findings of this

thesis may provide some insight into the experiences of gentrifiers within the retail

operations they are often associated with, and present a view point that looks beyond

these activities as a processes of class differentiation. Whilst not all respondents

could by classified as gentrifiers in this context, the practices explored, consuming in

cafes, bars, speciality and ethnic food stores, are similar to those noted to be

favoured by gentrifiers (Bridge & Dowling, 2001; Ley, 1996; Zukin, 1998). In

particular these findings support the arguments of Redfern (2003) and Wynne and

O’Connor (1998), in suggesting these consumption practices may be more usefully

considered as (local) status seeking, rather than a process of class differentiation.

In particular this thesis research complements and suggests potential to build on the

recent work of Ilkucan (2004; Ilkucan & Sandikci, 2005), who similarly sought to


privilege a consumption perspective in his research on gentrification. Also

conducted using grounded theory, Ilkucan constructs gentrifiers as a subculture of

consumption, who use specific consumption practices to differentiate themselves

from other groups of people whom are also defined according to consumption

practices. Whilst Ilkucan finds that changing servicescapes offerings are related to

gentrification, he does not explore their relevance to his subculture of gentrifiers, as

this thesis does. Consideration of these findings in tandem, may work to increase

broader understandings of consumption practices in urban renewal/gentrified areas,

and elaborate on the role of the servicescapes within this process.

Symbolically associated ‘scapes’ can work cumulatively to support, reinforce and

‘ground’ a place based tribe.

The collective servicescape and the streetscape that bind it, worked together to play

an anchoring role for the tribe, to unite the tribal linking developed in servicescapes

and ground them within the communityscape. It is through this process that the tribe

became local, such that the link, as manifested through servicescapes was shifted to

the communityscape. These elements also worked as sites of exposure, allowing

‘non-locals’ to experience the tribal aesthetic. Cumulatively the collective

servicescape, the streetscape, and the action and interaction that occur within it work

to communicate the identity of the communityscape. They also work cumulatively to

reinforce the collective ethic of the tribe as grounded within that specific location.

Whilst this conclusion is most relevant to urban renewal practice, and will be

discussed further below, it also supports and extends research on shopping centres,

which offer a similar collection of diverse servicescapes within a geographic

boundary that physically and symbolically unites them. By considering the

symbolically associated scapes of the West End area as a well branded shopping

centre (with laissez faire management), this finding can be seen to support shopping

centre research that emphasises both their functionality and sociality. Shopping

centres are recognised as places where people build and reinforce individual and

collective identities (Maclaran & Brown, 2005; Miller et al., 1998; Sandicki & Holt,

1998). They are also seen as sites that can aid urban regeneration, by reinvesting in

under-utilised areas (Lowe, 2005; Miller et al., 1998). The grounding nature of


cumulative experiences of localness within these ‘scapes’ suggests the processes of

sociality that occur in these collective servicescapes can contribute to that

regeneration process. This may particularly be the case when strong place-marketing

elements are present, which provide a symbolic cue regarding a ‘local’ identity

around which this sociality can unite, as a place based tribe.

Practical Implications

A key aim of this thesis research was to develop a grounded theory that would be

useable in practice by business owners who wished to support community building

practices through their business operations. The implications outlined below can be

considered on both an individual servicescape level, and more broadly, as of value to

planners and developers involved in urban renewal activities, and in particular the

development in mixed-use residential and commercial areas. The following

guidelines for business can be proposed:

• Businesses can communicate information about the community in which they

exist through their value offering.

Thus businesses wishing to support a pre-existing community may alter their value

offering to complement the shared values of the community. This also implies that

businesses can reinforce or reassert community values by emphasising them in their

value offering. As illustrated in Chapter Six, businesses that structure their value

offering in this manner may come to be seen as ambassadors for the community

identity and are able to include the symbolic operant value that tribal membership

represents as part of their value offering. On a broader level this implies value in

consideration of the types of businesses targeted for new developments and the way

they may contribute to the identity of the communityscape that is being established.

• Businesses can enhance their value offering by enabling social interaction

that can build links between the business and the community

This reiterates the work of Jacobs (1961), who emphasises the key role of small

businesses as community hubs, and the propositions of Aubert-Gamet and Cova

(1999) discussed above. Yet the simplicity, and benefit of encouraging and enabling


meaningful interaction in servicescapes deserves repetition. As noted in the quote

that opened Chapter Six (see p. 102), the social interaction businesses can offer goes

beyond the generalised notion of customer service, to one underlined by openness

and respect that aims to encourage individuals to integrate the value offering of the

servicescape, and in particular to use consumption experiences within that

servicescape as a means of accessing the operant values of the community. By doing

so, and coming to be seen as tribe members, businesses are able to access the

symbolic operant resource that tribal membership creates, thus increasing their value

offering, and value to the tribe. This recommendation is made with particular regard

to small businesses, which due to physical size and smaller pools of staff can more

easily build familiarity.

• Tribal businesses have a responsibility to support the activities of the tribe

Businesses cannot just use the values and interactive practices of the tribe to support

their business; they must also be actively seen to support the tribe. This becomes a

moral responsibility. Communicating values and offering spaces for interaction, the

points raised above, are elements of these responsibilities. Yet businesses may also

be required to assist existing tribe members in the ways of the tribe, to maintain the

tribe’s flexibility, and its distinction from a sub-culture.

• Economic and social benefits exist for businesses that complement their

value offering with tribal linking opportunities

Incorporating community values into the value offering of a business can encourage

loyalty from customers, particularly in a community where supporting local business

is deemed important. As owners and staff become tribe members, this also works to

bring social networks into the servicescape. This may work to enhance job

satisfaction and social and emotional wellbeing for owners and staff.

These guidelines can be considered in particular reference to ‘urban villages’, which

also offer a collective servicescape united by a streetscape, have a high geotemporal

concentration, offer a rich social context, and imagine they may become a

community. In particular the findings of this thesis research have implications for the

design of the collective servicescape in these developments and the manner in which

they are linked by the streetscape into a definable and identifiable communityscape

that is able to ground a consumer tribe.


As noted in Chapter Five, a diverse collective servicescape that satisfies the basic

value needs of residents means they will spend more time within the

communityscape. For ‘urban villages’, particularly those in new areas with little pre-

existing retail infrastructure, this implies value in focusing on the range of goods and

services that are provided. Aspects of interest include whether there are sufficient

services to support to community in most of its basic needs, and whether these

services are targeted toward the demographics of people who live there, or broader

populations. Such developments that seek to incorporate lower income housing for

example, would need to be wary of assumptions regarding what is considered

excellent or convenient, as these may vary significantly according to individuals

current resources and value needs. It also implies consideration of servicescapes not

only according to suitability of product offerings, but also according to their

willingness to support the community through their value offering. This thesis

suggests there is potential for actively involving small business in existing and new

communities, in communicating the ‘vision’ for the community. Whilst non-places

are valuable for the anonymity they offer, particularly in a well established

community, building a place based tribe is a collective and cumulative process, and

is therefore less likely to be successful with limited business support.

This collective process of course is not only the responsibility of business, but also

involves the spaces that link these businesses, and the presence of an identifiable

community ‘brand’. ‘Urban villages’ are typically designed for walkability and

visibility, which enhances opportunities for tribal interaction; there may be less

consideration though of how this collection of ‘scapes’ can communicate a sense of

a united community. Whilst ‘urban villages’ can receive considerable promotional

support, as indicated in Chapter Three, the emphasis on an increasing mainstream

urban lifestyle may offer little ‘unique’ value through which to identify this

communityscape, and tribe. As noted above, servicescapes can work to communicate

and enhance the values of the tribe, the implication for consideration is the uniting

potential of the values many of these new build urban village areas intentionally or

unintentionally communicate.


Implications for Further Research

This research was conducted within an established community with a strong retail

infrastructure, with a high number of independent businesses, many of who actively

supported the community. The West End area is also one that is recognised as

diverse, yet tolerant, and proud of the identity of its community. Within this context

it is easier to recognise the tribal behaviours, and then conceptualise the impact and

potential of these practices. Given this context two clear propositions for future

applications arise;

• determining the usefulness of the recommendations for businesses for

building and maintaining tribal links

• determining the viability of the construction of a place-based community as a

tribe by attempting to build one in an area without a strong pre-existing

community

The first proposition has relevance for businesses seeking to build consumer tribes,

therefore extending existing consumer tribe research, as was discussed with

reference to implications for theory. One valuable application, as discussed with

reference to implications for practice, could be seen in an established community

where small business are not actively involved in community building processes, to

determine how adopting a tribe building approach impacts on the connectivity of the

community and the success of the business. The second proposition may also have

application potential in locations such as shopping malls that may be seeking to

establish themselves as a linking hub for the broader community in which they exist.

To explore if the collective servicescape of a shopping mall can be mobilised to

encourage tribal attachment to the broader community.

The second proposition would ideally be combined with the first, in a project that

worked to explore how businesses can work to support the growth and development

of a place based tribe within a new community. A newly built, mixed-use area that is

designed to be relatively self-sufficient, and that, as per the marketing, seeks to

encourage an ‘urban village’ type atmosphere, is an example of a potential location.

Such a research site would be rich in link building potential, due to the focus on

convenient access to goods and services, but also offer some of the perceived


barriers to community building, lifestyles high in consumption practices that are

constructed as being materialistic or self-interested. Such a context would both test

the usefulness of the grounded theory of assuming a ‘local’ identity through

consumption experiences in servicescapes, and further work to explore to complex

and contradictory perceptions, values and attitudes that are tied up in discourses that

oppose the local community to global consumption.

Appendix 135

Appendix One

Questionnaire

Participant Information Sheet

“Consumer Behaviour in Urban Renewal: A grounded exploration of the role

on consumption in the evolution of a sense of place”

Researcher: Michelle Hall

0417768668

[email protected]

Supervisor: Dr Judy Drennan

07 38645308

[email protected]

Description

The purpose of this project is to investigate how consumption spaces and

consumption behaviours contribute to the development of a community identity or

sense of place. This will be explored with specific reference to the urban renewal

project in West End.

The research team requests your assistance in examining the role of consumption

behaviours and how they impact on community identity, both in the eyes of

members of the community and as viewed by external stakeholders such as

developers, government bodies, tourism bodies and visitors.

For the purposes of this research consumption behaviour is defined as both purchase

and non-purchase activities that involve the use of a product or service for an end

gain. This gain may be physical (food and clothing provide sustenance and

protection), mental (a newspaper or book provides information) or emotional (lunch

Appendix 136

or coffee with friends satisfies social needs) or of course any combination of the

above and more. When answering the questions below please consider your general

activities in this way as much as possible.

The following questionnaire has been developed to gather some basic information

about the consumption behaviours of residents of and visitors to the region covered

by West End, South Brisbane, Hill End and Highgate Hill, this will be referred to as

the West End region. This questionnaire should take no longer than 30 minutes to

complete

Expected benefits

It is expected that this project may benefit you in that it may highlight ways in which

consumption spaces and behaviours can be used to maintain and encourage the

growth of diverse communities. Application in the West End urban renewal project

will rely upon cooperation from state and local government planning and social

policy units and assumes a speedy implementation of the developed theories. If this

is not possible, it is hoped government planning bodies, tourism marketers and

community groups in other urban renewal projects both in Brisbane and elsewhere

will use the product of this research.

Risks

There are no risks associated with your participation in this project.

Confidentiality

All comments and responses are anonymous and will be treated confidentially. The

names of individual persons are not required in any of the responses.

Voluntary participation

Your participation in this project is voluntary. If you do agree to participate, you can

withdraw from participation at any time during the study without comment or

penalty. Your decision to participate will in no way impact upon your current or

future relationship with QUT.

Questions / further information

Please contact the research team if you require further information about the project,

or to have any questions answered.

Appendix 137

Concerns / complaints

Please contact the Research Ethics Officer on 3864 2340 or [email protected]

if you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the project.

Consent

The return of the completed questionnaire is accepted as an indication of your

consent to participate in this project.

Thank you for your time in completing this questionnaire, your help is greatly

appreciated.

SECTION A - BASIC DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Please provide the following demographic information about yourself. This will help

me assess if certain attitudes or actions can be attributed to specific demographic

factors.

1 - Age

2 - Gender

3 - Occupation

4 - Ethnic background

5 - Suburb of Residence

SECTION B - RELATIONSHIP TO THE WEST END REGION

The following section is interested in your physical relationship with the West End

region as a resident, business person or visitor. Please answer any or all of the three

sections below that relate to you.

Appendix 138

West End Residents

1 - How long have you lived in the West End region?

2 - What were your reasons for moving to this area?

3 – Why do you stay?

West End Business Owners and Employees

1 - How long have you worked in the West End region?

2 - What were your reasons for establishing a business or coming to work in the

area?

3 – Why do you continue to work or maintain a business presence in the area?

Visitors to the West End Region

1 - How long have you been visiting the West End region?

2 - How often do you visit the West End region?

3 - What were your reasons for first visiting this area?

4 – Why do you continue to visit?

Appendix 139

SECTION C - IMPRESSIONS OF THE WEST END REGION

The following section seeks to explore your general impressions of and attitude

towards the West End region. Please also note if you feel there has been any recent

or significant change in your impressions or attitudes.

1 - What do you know about the West End community?

2 - What do you know about businesses in the West End area?

3 - What do you know about the public facilities and open space in the West End

area?

4 – What are your thoughts on any of the above features of the West End area?

SECTION D - ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE WEST END REGION

The following section seeks to explore the consumption behaviours of residents and

visitors in the West End region. Please think about your usual activities, considering

both purchase (such as going out for breakfast, buying groceries) and non-purchase

consumption behaviours (such as jogging in the park).

1 - What kind of consumption activities do you engage in whilst in West End?

2 - Do you have particular businesses or locations that you specifically use for these

consumption activities?

3 – Why do you choose these locations?

Appendix 140

4 - Are there any particular locations or activities in West End you feel that you

personally identify with?

SECTION E - URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT IN THE WEST END REGION

The following section is specifically interested in your attitudes to the recent focus

on the West End region as a site for ‘urban renewal’. This process is typified by an

increase in business and residential development, a population influx and a greater

focus on the promotion and marketing of the area.

1 – Are you aware of the urban renewal project in West End?

If yes please continue with the following

2 - What are your general opinions of the urban renewal project in West End?

3 - How do you feel this will affect the West End community?

4 - How do you feel this will affect your activities in the West End area?

SECTION F – FURTHER COMMENTS

Please feel free to add any additional comments below.

When you have completed this survey, please email to

[email protected] or mail in the self addressed envelope provided.

Again, thank you for your assistance.

Cheers, Michelle

References 141

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