以广州市居住郊区化过程中出现的消费错位现象为切入点,从消费社会学的符号消费视角对其原因进行新的解释。消费空间剧场化、消费空间时尚化以及消费空间对消费者社会身份的建构功能,使北京路传统商业步行街作为高级商业中心地的符号功能得以建构。现代购物中心的符号表征功能,使天河区商业中心成为一个消费者自我实现的情感化消费空间。两者重构了大城市的中心-边缘关系,使到郊区的居住空间得以拓展而消费空间受到抑制,难以发展高等级的现代业态。随着城市快速轨道交通的建设,城区商业中心进一步加强了对消费者和经营者的吸引力,新时期的地下商业文化也加速了商业中心的符号化。城市消费空间正向城区商业中心极化力量增强的方向演化。

Focused on the phenomenon of consumption mismatch during the process of residential suburbanization in Guangzhou, this paper re-explains the reason from the perspective of symbolic analysis in consumption sociology. The theatricalization, fashionalization, and functionality for constructing the consumer’s social identity of consumer space symbolizes the Beijing Road as an advanced business center. Apparently, Tianhe Business Center also has become a consumer space to help consumer’s affective reaction for self-realization due to the symbolic representation function of modern shopping center. Both of them reconstructed the relationship of urban core-periphery area, and formed a symbolic consumption rule which is separated and paralleled from original economic rule. During the process of residential suburbanization in Guangzhou, on one hand, a suburbanized lifestyle emerged as a symbolic commercial product and catered for the taste for exquisiteness in housing market; on the other hand, the different demands of residents can not be met well except routine shopping in suburbs and people still go to urban central area to satisfy themselves for entertainment, image appeal and quality culture, because advanced business center is absent for a long time although there has a large population. Influenced by core-periphery model, the residential function was developed but commercial function was restricted in suburbs, so advanced modern retailing center can hardly exist. In recent years, the system of rail rapid transit is being constructed and it will further intensify the interaction between urban core-periphery area. Around the Tianhe Road, a more large-scale commercial conglomerate is being formed and it supposed to reduce the possibility of same functional business center in suburbs. With the development of rail rapid transit, urban business center will have more attractions for shops and consumers and the symbolization will be strengthened by the sequent new-developed type of operation—underground commercial culture. Urban consumer space will have a tendency of evolution to a stronger polarization.