Photo Essay: Services & the City

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Photo Essay 1: Services and the City GE3201The Service Economy

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2013-2014 Semester 1/NUS/GE3201/Photo Essay 1 Woon Wei Seng A0002916N

GE3201 The Service Economy

Photo Essay:Services and the City1

Snippets of two services in the City of London

Woon Wei Seng (A0002916N)

The service economy is the heart of the contemporary city, especially for global cities

(Williams, 1997). A hallmark of global cities, the agglomeration of corporate headquarters

and advanced producer services, is highly evident in pre-eminent exemplar London. Notably,

London is ranked alpha global city for its dominance in global provision of four key

corporate services: accountancy, advertising, finance and law (Beaverstock, Taylor & Smith,

1999), making London suitable in examining how services manifest in the city.

This photo essay focuses on legal and retail services within the City of London2,

United Kingdoms financial hub. The photos were taken while on SEP to London3.

1Title inspired by title of American sitcom Sex and the City. In this photo essay, The City literally refers to the

City of London in short.2

The City of London, as financial hub, is distinguished from Greater London, commonly identified as London.3I was in Kings College London in 2012/2013 Semester 2(January to June 2013) for Student Exchange

Programme (SEP). Its Strand campus is located slightly outside the City.


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Retail in the City

Walking along Strand in the City, an advertisement caught my eye free tea (Figure

1)! I had chanced upon Londons oldest tea shop4, operated by renowned brand Twinings

(Twinings, 2012). This shop-cum-museum welcomes passers-by to buy and sample tea.

Figure 1 Twinings Tea Shop invites you inside to enjoy tea.

4Opened in 1706 on Strand by tea merchant Thomas Twining (Twinings, 2012).


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Retailers, as the bedrock of consumer services, are ubiquitous and increasingly

conduct business online, but this store stands out for its long history, its attractive location

and its emphasis on face-to-face contact through tea tasting, providing customers a unique

experience (Bryson, 2008; Twinings, 2012). It courts workers from the surrounding legal

district and tourists directed by websites like Time Out to its history and merchandise

(Telegraph, 2009; Time Out, 2009). To attract customers, the shop interior is elegant and

evokes history, stocking diverse types of tea on its shelves (Figure 2).

Figure 2:Inside the ornate shop.


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Besides offering teas exclusive to this store, its distinctive Sampling Counter stands

out for tea-tasting without obligations to buy, offering intimate face-to-face interaction with

customers (Twinings, 2012) (Figure 3).

Overall, this inimitable concept of having experts advising customers and brewing

them tea cannot be easily outsourced or digitized in e-commerce (Calanog, 2011).

Figure 3:Enjoy exquisite loose-leaf teas specially brewed by experts.


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Lawyers in the City

Walking on, I stumble upon an alley leading into a peaceful, scenic yet staid world

away from the Citys bustle(Figure 4): Middle Temple, one of four Inns of Court in Londons

legal district, where lawyers live, train and work (Podgers, 2000). The centuries-old cradle of

British common law, today it is legal hub for the judiciary and the Citys many financial firms.

Figure 4:Narrow alley leading into Middle Temple, lined by barristers and solicitors chambers.


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Face-to-face interaction is critical to law firms operations: in exchanging knowledge,

conducting business and developing trust (Jones, 2007). These explain their clustering in

places like Middle Temple despite centrifugal pressures of outsourcing and new ICT. Co-

presence remains important despite globalising operations, hence the courtyards and

landscaped gardens provide a beautiful and tranquil environment for lawyers (and their

clients) to socialise and do business (Figure 5).

Figure 5:Courtyard in Middle Temple for lawyers and clients to mingle.

The importance of sociality (face-to-face interaction and embodied knowledge)

undergirds both seemingly-disparate services in the City, keeping services emplaced in the

urban economy.

(500 words)


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Bibliography

Beaverstock, J. V., Taylor, P. J. and Smith, R. G. (1999) A roster of world cities. Cities, 16(6),

445-458.

Bryson, J. R. (2008) Service economies, spatial divisions of expertise and the second global

shift. InP. Daniels, M. Bradshaw, D. Shaw and J. Sidaway (eds.)An Introduction to

Human Geography: Issues for the 21st

Century. Harlow: Pearson, 2008, 339-357.

Calanog, V. (2011) Will Electronic Commerce Kill Brick-and-Mortar Retail? National Real

Estate Investor, 53(3).

Jones, A. (2007) More than managing across borders? the complex role of face-to-face

interaction in globalising law firms.Journal of Economic Geography, 7, 223-246.

Podgers, J. (2000) Walk through history in legal London.ABA Journal, 86, 90-91.

Telegraph. (2009) Great walks around London: the legal district. [Online] Available from:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activityandadventure/walkingholidays/5552171/

Great-walks-around-London-the-legal-district.html [Accessed 8 September 2013].

Time Out. (2009) Twinings Strand Shop Museum. [Online] Available from:

http://www.timeout.com/london/attractions/twinings-strand-shop-museum

[Accessed 7 September2013].

Twinings. (2012) Twinings 216 Strand London. [Online] Available from:

http://twinings.co.uk/our-stores/twinings,-216,-strand,-london [Accessed 7

September 2013].

Williams, C. C. (1997) Consumer Services and Economic Development. London: Routledge.

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Photo Essay: Services & the City