Title: Manufacturing experiences: urban development, sport and recreation

Authors: Jeremy Howell

Addresses: Sports Management Graduate Program, University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA

Abstract: From health clubs to sports resorts, retail stores to restaurants, interactive museums to eco-parks, recreational grounds to college campuses, and entertainment centres to sport stadia, we have witnessed over the last decade an explosion in the ways sporting experiences have been manufactured, marketed and delivered. This essay explores this phenomenon with specific reference to recent trends in urban development. Increasingly, cities all over the globe are transforming their downtown environments into urban entertainment destination sites that aim to produce high value-added experiences. Nowhere is this more evident than in San Francisco. Beginning with an analysis of the renovation of the finger piers located on the famous city waterfront, to the design of new digital neighbourhoods in former industrial sectors of the city, the essay focuses on the design of such lifestyle experiences and the creative audiences to which they are targeted.

Keywords: culture; sporting experiences; urban entertainment; urban development; creativity; lifestyle experiences; place; industry; localisation; globalisation; sport marketing; recreation; San Francisco; commerce-culture mix; local sport.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2005.007121

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2005 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.56 - 68

Published online: 27 May 2005 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article