Research

My research focuses on analyzing the complex interplay of imaginations of consumerism, governance of consumption spaces and everyday life in the public domain. Current research interests are:

City centre redevelopment and urban competition

Spatial imaginations and urban governance

Retailing and consumption

Shopping and everyday life

Public space

Spatial identity

Alternative spaces and countercultures

Border subjectivities

Recent publications

Ernste, H., F. Hooghuis & B. Spierings (2009). Aardrijkskunde Olympiade 2008: leerlingen struikelen over het begrip 'identiteit', Geografie, 18(1), 34-35

Spierings, B. (2009), Producing urban (dis)similarity: entrepreneurial governance, consumer mobility and competitive consumption spaces; the case of the Enschede region, in B. Arts, H. van Houtum & A. Lagendijk (eds.), The disoriented state: shifts in governmentality, territoriality and governance, 141-159, Springer, Berlin

Spierings, B. (2008), Zoek de verschillen, in Platform Binnenstadsmanagement (red.), Signalen uit de binnenstad, 17-18, Platform Binnenstadsmanagement, Boxtel

Spierings, B. & M. van der Velde (2008), Shopping, borders and unfamiliarity: consumer mobility in Europe, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 99(4), 497-505

Spierings, B. (2008), Funshoppen in binnensteden: de intentie van het 'klavertje 3' van Nijmegen, Geografie, 17(8), 18-20

Spierings, B. & H. van Houtum (2008), The Brave New World of the post-society: the mass-production of the individual consumer and the emergence of template cities, European Planning Studies, 16(7), 899-909

Spierings, B. (2007), Cities, consumption and competition: the image of consumerism and the making of city centres (book abstract), Social & Cultural Geography, 8(1), 161

Spierings, B. (2007), Beelden van consumenten in binnensteden: een politiek cultureel-economische analyse van binnenstadsprojecten, Vrijetijdstudies, 25(2), 63-67

Houtum, H. van & B. Spierings (2007), Barcode humans: on the fabrication of consumers in the super-market society, in BAVO (ed.), Urban politics now: re-imagining democracy in the neoliberal city, 182-196, NAi Publishers, Rotterdam

Spierings, B. (2006), The return of regulation in the shopping landscape? Reflecting on the persistent power of city centre preservation within shifting retail planning ideologies, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 97(5), 602-609

Spierings, B. (2006), Downtown America: a history of the place and the people who made it (book review), Cities, 23(4), 307-309

Spierings, B. & H. van Houtum (2006), Naar een andere binnenstad: over grenzen, gangen, bruggen en 'wormholes', in N. Aarts, R. During & P. van der Jagt (red.), 'Te Koop' en andere ideeën over de inrichting van Nederland, 241-252, Wageningen Universiteit en Researchcentrum, Wageningen

Spierings, B. (2006), Cities, consumption and competition: the image of consumerism and the making of city centres (dissertation), Radboud University, Nijmegen

Teaching

My teaching discusses spatial, social, cultural, economic, political and ethical aspects of retailing and consumption. Currently taught courses are:

Stadsgeografie 1: gebruik van de stad

Steden, consumptie en identiteit

Mobilizing persons, places and spaces

Urban reflections in practice: fieldtrip

Bachelor theses

Master thesis

Honours projects