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Shops as the bricks and mortar of place identity

A comparison of shopping streets in Brussels, Paris and Geneva

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Abstract

“Think of a city and what comes to mind?” asks Jane Jacobs (1961: 29). “Its streets. If a city’s streets look interesting, the city looks interesting; if they look dull, the city looks dull.” In our opinion, Jacobs should have answered: its commercial streets. Indeed, on Jacobs’ ideal street, small shops attract a diversity of people who use the public space and interact.

Ph.D. student, Department of Sociology.

Research assistant, Department of Sociology.

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Correspondence to Maxime Felder .

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Felder, M., Pignolo, L. (2018). Shops as the bricks and mortar of place identity. In: Ferro, L., Smagacz-Poziemska, M., Gómez, M., Kurtenbach, S., Pereira, P., Villalón, J. (eds) Moving Cities – Contested Views on Urban Life. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-18462-9_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-18462-9_7

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