Selling Streetness as Experience. The Role of Street Art Tours in Branding the Creative City

Article


Andron, S. 2018. Selling Streetness as Experience. The Role of Street Art Tours in Branding the Creative City. The Sociological Review. 66 (5), pp. 1036-1057. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026118771293
AuthorsAndron, S.
Abstract

This article looks at the street art tours industry in London, and its function in constructing the geographic, economic and symbolic value of street art. The street art world of the capital has reached a substantial level of institutional endorsement as a proper urban creative practice, through backing such as by local councils and private developers, art galleries and book publishers. This article examines the role of walking tours in holding up street art as a cultural product of the creative city. It argues that London’s street art scene is constructed and legitimated by these tours through the strategic deployment of an authoritative discourse. Street art tours’ routes and locations are then integrated into a longer lineage of endorsements for the cultural field of street art, and interpreted as branding strategies for the creative city. In the conclusion, the role of walking tours in gentrification and urban change is discussed, with a focus on how street art works and murals contribute to performing Shoreditch as a hub of vibrancy and urban creativity.

Keywordscreative city; London street art; place branding; Shoreditch; street art tour; streetness
JournalThe Sociological Review
Journal citation66 (5), pp. 1036-1057
ISSN0038-0261
Year2018
PublisherSAGE Publications
Accepted author manuscript
License
File Access Level
Anyone
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026118771293
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026118771293
Publication dates
Print01 Sep 2018
Online01 May 2018
Publication process dates
Deposited01 Oct 2019
Copyright holder© 2018 The Author
Copyright informationAs accepted for publication in Sociological Review: Andron, S (2018) Selling streetness as experience: the role of street art tours in branding the creative city, Sociological Review, 66 (5) pp. 1036-1057. 10.1177/0038026118771293.
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Accepted author manuscript
Sabina Andron Selling Streetness .pdf
License: All rights reserved
File access level: Anyone

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