168 x 230mm
270 pages
Published 2000

how are contemporary cultural, social and economic processes impacting upon liesure practices in Stoke-on-Trent? Which familiar liesure spaces are disappearing and changing and which new ones are replacing them? And what are the arguments, contoversies and contestations that surround these symbolic local sites? In a spirit of interdisciplinarity, the contributors to this book explore these continuities and transformations, the proliferation of liesure activities, and the diverse places in which they are practised.

By looking at wider processes - the intensified flow of international money, the stretching out of social and economic networks, the imperative to sell cities and cultures in an expanding market, and the incleasing regulation of space - the chapters here inversigate how liesure is shaped in a local context. This rich collection of essays show that unlike many of the large cities which preoccupy urban geographers, sociologists and cultural theorists, The Potteries has not yet been given a trendy make-over by new, middle-class, service professionals. The cit and its residents are negotiating an identity between grounded in the traditional, industrial and working class milieus and the emergence of post-industrial, post-modern urban lifestyles. This accessible and fascinating book is sure to generate discussion amongs locals, and is indispensable for academics working in Cultural Studies, sociology, History and Geography.

Tim Edensor teaches Cultural Studies at Staffordshire University.