Sport, Leisure and Culture in the Postmodern City

The notion of the 'postmodern city' has become widespread, with a general consensus that this describes the decline of traditional manufacturing industries; the corresponding waning of white working class culture; the rise of the service sector; of 'flexible' working practices and of a more feminised and ethnically diverse workforce; a greater emphasis on consumption, leisure and pleasure; as well as concerted attempts to develop cities as places to visit, in which to site a conference or prominent sporting event, or engage in some sense of heritage. The postmodern city is thus seen as the city that never sleeps, that survives in large part by selling ideas of itself, along with sport, fun, art, souvenirs, shops, and historic artefacts.Illustrated by a detailed and interdisciplinary study of a typical 'postmodern city' in the north of England, Leeds, this volume examines this trend for self reinvention, commercially, politically and spatially over the past two decades, with a particular focus on sport and leisure. Addressing issues such as cultural policy, leisure patterns, sports tourism and heritage, sex and sexuality, music and popular culture, it explores the different dimensions of this process in relation to the changing configurations of class, gender and ethnicity in the postmodern, postindustrial city.

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