Conceptualizing spatial types: characteristics, transitions, and research avenues

In this essay, we develop a typology of spaces. We highlight the broader dynamics at play in the structuring of space and its role in marketing and propose that spaces can be characterized as either public, market, emancipating, or segregating. These four types of space are structured along two main dynamics: a contradiction between contestation and consensus and a contrariety opposing participation to privatization. For each type, we map out existing literature and research opportunities in the study of consumption, markets, and space. We also analyze the possible transitions between the spatial types following the transformations in the arrangement of forces in society. We offer a template of how to devise novel research opportunities by providing a detailed account of the dynamics at the center of the transition from public to market spaces.