wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: Marketplace - A World Wide Panorama
c b arun kumar 2005-Jan-22 01:26:00
"marketplace" -Great Topic
All Set!
Now if only we could fast forward time...
cheers
CB
--- "G. Donald Bain" <#removed#>
wrote:
> Here are some thoughts on the theme for the next
> World Wide Panorama.
> This is also on the web site:
> http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp/NextEvent.html
>
> Marketplace
>
> A marketplace is anywhere that people gather to
> exchange items of
> value. These items can be durable or perishable,
> tangible or
> theoretical. The marketplace itself can be built for
> that specific
> purpose, or traditional, or ephemeral.
>
> European country towns usually have a market square,
> marked by a stone
> cross and sometimes by public scales, in use
> continuously since the
> middle ages. These often mark the center of town,
> the busy heart of the
> community, and many are still used for weekly
> markets. Covered markets
> were built for more continuous use and are found
> everywhere.
>
> Many towns have farmers' markets one or more days a
> a week, set up on a
> temporarily closed street. These may provide not
> only fresh produce,
> but a splash of color and life to chilly northern
> streets on the March
> equinox.
>
> Produce markets vary widely around the world and by
> season, since they
> reflect local conditions. You will find many kinds
> of chile peppers in
> Mexico, piles of kava roots in Fiji, durians in
> southeast Asia, dates
> in North Africa, live snakes in Hong Kong, seasonal
> fruits and flowers
> everywhere. Covered markets from the colonial era
> are features of
> cities from Tahiti to Haiti.
>
> Wholesale produce markets operate early in the
> morning in every city, a
> world we seldom see but depend on for fresh fruit
> and vegetables. Many
> cities have similar markets just for cut flowers,
> others for fresh or
> frozen fish.
>
> Marketplaces have a special sort of urban life to
> them and have been
> popular parts of plans for urban renewal. Boston's
> Quincy Market was an
> early example of this, San Francisco's Ferry
> Building a recent one.
> Pike Place Market in Seattle is one of the city's
> leading attractions.
>
> There are famous markets in many cities: the French
> Market in New
> Orleans, Covent Garden in London, Les Halles in
> Paris, many of which
> now serve new functions. Middle eastern cities such
> as Marrakech and
> Aleppo have famous souks (suq). New York and Los
> Angeles have teeming
> Garment Districts where clothing is designed,
> manufactured, and sold
> both wholesale and retail. Tokyo has the Akihabara
> district
> specializing in electronics.
>
> Some marketplaces deal purely in money - the great
> stock exchanges of
> New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, trading shares in
> companies. The
> Mercantile Exchange in Chicago specializes in
> commodity futures,
> trading goods that do not yet exist. Money markets
> set the exchange
> rates between currencies and the price of gold.
>
> There are specialized marketplaces, such as the
> diamond trading
> districts of New York, London, and Amsterdam. There
> are tobacco
> auctions in the American South (though rapidly
> disappearing) and cattle
> auctions in the Midwest and West. Luxurious yachts
> are for sale in
> Miami and San Diego. Mobile homes are sold from lots
> at the edge of
> many American cities. Sometimes small conventional
> houses displaced by
> highway construction or urban renewal are sold in
> similar fashion.
>
> Many cities have huge "flea markets", where anyone
> can sell anything,
> usually once a week in a huge parking lot.
> Portobello Road in London
> becomes a street market for antiques once a week.
> Less visible are
> "thieves markets" offering possibly stolen
> merchandise, bootleg music
> and video.
>
> Tourist areas have markets specializing in the needs
> of visitors, cheap
> souvenirs and T-shirts along with distinctive
> locally produced items,
> such as handicrafts and artwork. Jewelry shops
> cluster around cruise
> ship terminals. Cruise ships, luxury hotels, and Las
> Vegas casinos have
> their own flashy shopping malls.
>
> Bookstores are a specialized marketplace, ranging
> from vast stores such
> as Foyles in London and Powells in Portland, Oregon,
> to neighborhoods
> of tiny shops specializing in used books and
> collectors specialties, to
> booksellers along the Seine in Paris. Some
> bookstores are the very soul
> of a town, such as Codys and Moe's in Berkeley.
>
> Every settlement has retail stores, ranging in scale
> from one-room
> country stores to endless malls. Despite their
> ubiquity, some are
> famous - the Hasegawa General Store in Hana on Maui,
> Hawaii, the vast
> West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. Every major
> city has a
> "gourmet" grocery store - the one I shop at in
> Berkeley has over 500
> items in the produce department and 124 types of
> olive oil. Jackson's
> of Piccadilly in London vies with Fortnum and Mason
> and the food halls
> at Harrods for the luxury trade there.
>
> Individual shopping streets can also be famous, such
> as Rodeo Drive in
> Beverly Hills. Whole communities can be dominated by
> a particular
> commodity, such as art in tiny Carmel-by-the-Sea,
> California, with 121
> galleries. The city of Taxco in Mexico has over 300
> shops selling
> silverwork. Religious articles are sold along routes
> of pilgrimages and
> in holy cities, and sports-related merchandise at
> stadiums.
>
> Finally there is the vast and shadowy on-line
> marketplace. Some parts
> are actual, such as the huge Amazon.com warehouse in
> Nevada, but most
> types of on-line commerce will be a challenge to
> photograph.
>
> We look forward to seeing the diversity of
> interpretations of
> Marketplace - a World Wide Panorama.
>
>