The Limits to the Imagineered City: Sociospatial Polarization in Orlando

Abstract

Abstract: Postindustrial city development has become increasingly privatized, in addition to being based more and more on “imagineering” place for sale to footloose producers and consumers. As a result, cities have taken on many of the characteristics generally associated with theme parks. Themed built environments envelop highly selective communities essentially isolated from others, both socially and spatially. I argue that these sociospatial results of Disneyesque urban development do not bode well for urban social relations. I substantiate this claim by documenting the evolution of sociospatial isolation and polarization in Orlando, Florida, which has grown quite rapidly since the arrival of Disney World in the early 1970s. This “other” Orlando is proving to be ever more difficult to imagineer away and, indeed, represents the social limits to Disneyesque development.

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