Emily Anderson
Perceiving the Core: The Spatial Dimensions of Consumer Behaviour and Attitudes Toward Toronto's Downtown Yonge District © 2007
Given the increasing importance of marketing to urban revitalization, this study seeks to fill an existing gap in the present literature by exploring how consumer perceptions and behaviours differ with their distance from a central point of consumption. Designed as a case study focusing on Toronto's Downtown Yonge district and supplied with market research data by the Downtown Yonge SIA, this project investigates the relationships among consumer geography, demographics, and attitudes and interactions with regards to this central commercial district using correspondence analysis, a categorical analytical technique. Results indicate that the distance of neighbourhood and workplace from Downtown Yonge corresponds with the ways in which consumers perceive and interact with the district. The theoretical value of these findings is examined, along with a detailed discussion of practical implications for the Downtown Yonge SIA and other such urban management organizations.