This is an analysis of the postindustrial city as a site of entertainment. By discussing examples from a wide variety of venues, including casinos, malls, heritage developments and theme parks, the author traces the rise of urban entertainment at the beginning of this century, its decline after World War II to its renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. Do such areas of fantasy which highlight the middle classes search for risk free mass entertainment, end up destroying communities or create new groupings of shared identities and experiences? Written around three theoretical perspectives -...

Fantasy City analyses the post-industrialist city as a site of entertainment. By discussing examples from a wide variety of venues, including casinos, malls, heritage developments and theme parks, Hannigan questions urban entertainments economic foundations and historical background. He asks whether such areas of fantasy destroy communities or instead create new groupings of shared identities and experiences. The book is written in a student friendly way with boxed case studies for class discussion.