Consumer culture plays a key role in the economy. Today the ways in which urban spaces are organized facilitate the consumption of goods. One need only look at modern cities such as New York, London or Tokyo to recognize the countless forms of advertising designed to attract the mass population to spend money on various goods, from novelties to luxury products. The use of structures built to facilitate the display of retail products for mass consumption is nothing new. After its renovation, Paris became an innovative planning and construction model for many of the modern cities that exist today. The wide avenues and open spaces engaged the mass population and encouraged consumerism. At the height of the Second Empire, Paris was one of the major centers of capitalist culture in Europe during the mid-nineteenth century, made possible by the reconstruction of the city. The modernization of Paris began an unprecedented method of urban planning under Baron Haussmann. It is this concept of modernization that people immediately think of in terms of Paris and modernity. This focus on Haussmannization, however, obscures the fact that Paris was already changing before Haussmann, as was evident in the arcades that arose in the 1820s and 1830s. City renewal projects were already being considered to deal with problems of overcrowding, disease, social upheaval and collapsing infrastructure. However, these plans were never realized; it was small entrepreneurs, or the lower middle class, who built the porticoes that determined the changes brought to the urban landscape of pre-Haussmann Paris. These arcades sought to cater to the consumer culture that was developing... ... middle of paper ......format ranging from pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes, swimming pools and so on; these spaces tend to be culture-specific. However, these spaces continue to use flânerie to engage consumers in the sale of goods. In Benjaree's words, "it is the appropriate mix of flânerie and third places that dictates the script of a successful public life." For example, shopping malls are designed to encourage the state of idleness in terms of “going out”. Boutiques are found in both metropolitan and suburban areas, as are a multitude of restaurants to encourage people to “eat out.” In most cases social contacts, relaxation, free time and entertainment involve the consumption of goods, whether it is going to the cinema, meeting friends or simply taking a walk, the individual is always a consumer when is found in the public sphere.