Making markets, making place : geography, topo/graphy and the reproduction of an urban marketplace

This book examines place and place-making in London's Borough Market. In particular, it uses topo/graphy ('place-writing) to interrogate the ways in which Borough Market's material, social-sensual and discursive relations assemble to reproduce Borough Market as a place, market and marketplace. Its central premise is that market-processes - the negotiation and exchange of commodities -are place-processes. This means that the often-abstract relationships that ultimately define what we think of as the economy are embedded in the rich and every materiality, sociality, sensuality and meanings associated with place. By tracing out these different elements, topo/graphy illustrates the ways in which economic reproduction is grounded in particular and often discrete practices. However, by assembling them together, this highlights the ways in which place and place-making are the driving force behind the economy at large. Ben Coles is a broadly trained economic and political geographer who researches the intersections between commodities and markets, and marketplaces, with a particular focus on food. Ben is affiliated to the Department of Geography at the University of Leicester, UK. He has a Ph.D. in Geography from Royal Holloway, University of London, and degrees from the University of Kansas Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures Chapter 1: Topo/graphic Introductions: Places, Markets and Marketplaces Entering the Marketplace Positioning the Marketplace The Place of the Market A Methodology for a Marketplace Topo/graphy To the Market(place)... References Chapter 2: Positioning Borough Market as Market and Marketplace A Field in Chorleywood Re/Placing Food Placing Alternatives Placing Urban Marketplaces Borough Market and the City Conclusions: Placing the Marketplace References Chapter 3: Imagined Geographies of the Marketplace: Fashioned Materialities A Fine Alternative for a Market Material Semiotics Placement and Place: The Market’s Built Environment Iron and Glass Floral Hall Market Things and What They Say Bakers Butchers Materials and Meanings: Assembling the Market of Signs Conclusions References Chapter 4: From Tree to Cup: Coffee and Commodity Culture in Borough Market Cups of Coffee Discovery: Placing Quality, Identifying Value Transformation: Commoditizing Quality, Expressing Value Translation: Performing Quality, Realizing Value Conclusions: An Economy of Quality References Chapter 5: Vibrancy, Conviviality and Buzz: Reproducing Market and Marketplace Buzzing Marketplace Defining Buzz Performing the Social Relating Consumers Performing the Marketplace Leaky Space(s) and the Sensescape of the Market The Sights The Sounds The Smells The Feel of the Place The Tastes The Buzz: Towards A(nother) Geography of Borough Market (Re)defining the Buzz Critical Mass The Market Buzzing Conclusions: The Fuel of an Economy References Chapter 6: Assembling the Marketplace Buzzing Marketplace Buzzing Borough Market Spatial Implications Place-Fetish Conclusions Leaving the Marketplace References Index