Union Square: Consumption Capital (Week 07)

Union Square is the shopping destination for all victims of the capitalist market. It’s set in a location between tight one-way streets making it very difficult to drive through. This makes more people want to use SF public transportation such as the MUNI, Bart and cabs. All this effort it put to get these consumers to the shops.

 The signs in Union Square can be categorized into 2 types.

There are the signs that show you were to park, a signs that tell you the name of the store. This is very interesting because when you look into it, you realize how the landscape is altered to suit the purpose. In this case the purpose of the place (Union Square) is a center for shopping and eating. The signs are therefore very simple and straightforward not confusing you or distracting you from going into a store and making a purchase. If a store sells expensive goods the font of the sign becomes subtle and the color and overall presentation is sophisticated.

By contrast, the Tenderloin and area only a few blocks down from this consumption capital is filled with homeless people. So while a young lady spends $3000 on a pair of shoes at Barneys a few blocks down there is a man waiting in line to get into a homeless shelter. There is such a large gap between the rich and the poor by not when it comes to physical space.