Bas Spierings is Associate Professor in Urban Geography (of Consumption, Retail and Public Space) at the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视. Prior to joining Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, he studied at Tilburg 木瓜福利影视 and Trinity College Dublin, and received his PhD from Radboud 木瓜福利影视 Nijmegen - for the dissertation Cities, Consumption and Competition: the Image of Consumerism and the Making of City Centres. Moreover, he was Postdoctoral Researcher at Groningen 木瓜福利影视 and Visiting Professor at universities in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Stockholm and Ankara.
Combining urban geography, cultural studies, political economy and urban design, his research focuses on the nexus between urban consumption, retail and public space 鈥� with specific interests in city centre competition, commercial gentrification and touristification, mixed-use streets, retail environments, urban tourism and sustainable development, leisure shopping, walking mobilities, and encounters with difference.
His work advances the understanding of how urban public space is being planned, managed and promoted with commercial objectives, and what the increasing privatisation and commodification of public space implies for practices and experiences of various social groups - in particular, for processes of social interaction, differentiation, in/exclusion, and inequality. Acknowledging his research expertise, Bas is member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Tourism Research and the Space and Culture journal.
Combining qualitative and quantitative methods - with specific interests in participatory and visual methods, including go-alongs, mental mapping and photovoice, as well as in text mining - his research develops around the following interrelated themes. See also the research tab for a selection of research projects per theme with funding granted by a variety of international, national, regional and local funding agencies.
+ Urban tourism and commercial gentrification, with a focus on how a variety of public spaces (located in downtown areas, residential neighborhoods, and suburban settings) transform and gentrify when they become planned, managed and promoted (including via social media) as important sites and objects of tourism and retail consumption.
+ Consumption spaces and everyday mobilities, with a focus on how diverse urbanites perform and experience a variety of mobilities (including walking and cycling) through multiple public spaces, while negotiating, assembling and (re)making their preferred everyday space for leisure, shopping and recreation.
+ Social differentiation and public space, with a focus on various implications of the privatisation and commodification of urban public space - including their planning, management and promotion with commercial objectives - for processes of social interaction, differentiation, in/exclusion and inequality.