Here a theme park, there a theme park, everywhere a theme park

Abstract

In Here a theme park, there a theme park, everywhere a theme park, Derham Groves traces the evolution of theme parks from medieval charter fairs in Europe to Disneyland (1955). He describes the influence of theme park architecture on contemporary everyday urban architecture. Even though this type of architecture has been widely dismissed as an aberration, frivolous, merely a bit of fun, Groves argues that all along it has been hiding in plain site, especially in China thanks to its similarities with many of those buildings designed according to the principles Ciffeng-shui.