Master of Business (Research), QUT; Grad Cert in Strategic Advertising, QUT; Bachelor of Arts (Media Studies, Art History), University of Queensland

Imagining Community: The construction of inner city community through consumption

(PhD, 2008-2011)

Abstract

This research examines the nature of community as it occurs at the conjunction of consumption practices, and place. In particular it focuses on the ways that consumption experiences within retail environments may work to construct place-based community in the contemporary Australian inner city. Utilising ethnographic methods, this research has focused on the emotional and imaginative aspects of the identity definition that occurs within consumption spaces. The research findings to date have highlighted the ways that experiences within neighbourhood consumption spaces can generate and inform place identification and place attachment. In particular, autoethnographic data suggests that the complementary ways that cafes, bars and retail stores that work to anchor communities and expose others to their shared values and ritual practices, are fundamental to the process of imagining an experience of community. This is because anchoring sites can offer the emotional security one may seek from a community, whilst exposure sites offer opportunities for more diverse, and less involved, engagement. Furthermore, this research suggests it is the interplay between these experiences that appears to fuel the imagining process. The ways this may occur, and how this process is shaped by discursive structures, is the ongoing focus of this research. This research aims to inform the place-making practices of governing bodies and neighbourhood associations, as well as provide insight into the individual experience of consumption facilitated neighbourhood-based community.

Biography

Michelle Hall is a QUT Doctoral candidate who is researching the ways that consumption experiences can support community in inner city environments.  In particular, Michelle is interested in the ways that interactions within cafes, bars and retail stores can be understood as experiences of community. Also of interest to this research are the ways that these consumption experiences can shape an individuals understanding of neighbourhood identity. Michelle’s current research extends her earlier work in this area, with the aim of developing its potential to inform the business practices of neighbourhood cafes, bars and retail stores, as well as activity centre planning and place making. She has presented her research at Australian and international Sociology, Urban Studies and Consumer Research conferences, and published in the Research in Consumer Behavior edited series. Michelle can be contacted on ml.hall@qut.edu.au

Supervisors

Professor Greg Hearn (Principle)

Professor Judy Drennan (Associate)

Publications

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Hall,_Michelle_Louise.html