Continuity and discontinuity in the historical trajectory of the commercialising of cities: storying Stockholm 1900–2020

Abstract

This article examines the continuities and discontinuities in the historical trajectory of the commercialisation of places. It outlines a performative approach to understanding how the process of turning cities into commercial products changes in time and space. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is used as an illustrative example of the spatio-temporal trajectory of commercialisation during the from 1900 to 2020. By embracing a narrative analysis, the study presents how combinations of business practices (place making, selling, promotion, marketing, and branding) overlap and diverge in the commercialising of Stockholm. This analysis reveals how the process of commercialisation not only represents, but also performs certain narratives. These narratives are expressions of the historically-situated policies and values representing the dominant ideology of a specific period. Narratives unfold spatio-temporal events organised using different practices of commercialisation, thus constructing commercialisation as a circular process in time-space, as opposed to a linear and chronologically-ordered sequence of events.