Economy
What Are the Building Types of the 'Prosumer' Society?
If we're all being put to work as consumers in the production of the things we buy, it must be having an effect on the landscape of our cities.
During the Industrial Revolution, the United States filled its cities with factories. Those manufacturing facilities quickly came to define the landscape of a time when America was in the business of producing things.
Then came a new era after the 1950s, when we started to produce less but consumed much more. Our communities came to be defined instead by "cathedrals of consumption," as sociologist George Ritzer calls them, or malls, fast-food joints and big-box stores.