The Real Fake

The Real Fake explores how the users of Thames Town–an English-like village built in Songjiang New Town near Shanghai – transform a themed space into something more than a "fake place." Piazzoni examines how the notion of authenticity affects the production, consumption, and contestation of urban spaces. Authenticity at once excludes the users of the city through hegemonic control and incorporates their ideas and everyday activities by encouraging spontaneous appropriations of space. Originating in postwar USA, corporations have made theming a central strategy in the development of orderly disneyfied urban communities. The Real Fake complicates this view by focusing on the relationship between theming and authenticity. Tourism studies tell us that we authenticate places through affective and embodied experiences as evidenced by the data collected through qualitative methods in Thames Town. Although the exclusionary character of theming remains apparent in Thames Town, it is precisely the experience of "fakeness" that allows the users to develop a sense of place.