Introduction

City, Retail and Consumption focuses on changing urban spaces through the interpretative key offered by retail and consumption, between globalization processes and the embeddedness in local contexts. The book is the outcome of the fourth international seminar organized by geographers from various countries (Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain) and enriched by the contributions of specialists (architects, urban planners, engineers, economists) and stakeholders. It collects almost fifty texts written after a fruitful debate not only about theories, approaches and methods but also about the practical implications of the urban planning for shopping and consumption places. The case studies range from Sao Paulo to Presidente Prudente, from Buenos Aires to Mexico City and again from Barcelona and Lleida to Lisbon, Paris, Ankara, Copenhagen and many Italian cities. Through different scales of analysis, the contributors have indeed paid their attention on relevant issues to urban studies: resilience, sustainability, dialectic between public and private spaces, impact of e-commerce in urban areas, residential and retail gentrification, neoliberalism and the right to the city.