Pharmaceuticalisation in the city

Abstract

Cityscapes are littered with medicinal products. This raises issues of pharmaceuticalisation, involving the construction of a range of human conditions as targets for pharmaceutical interventions. Employing the metaphoric figure of the flâneur, we traverse the New Zealand cityscape, interrogating the mediation and emplacement of various medicinal products within thoroughfares, commercial sites, and domestic dwellings. We demonstrate the pharmaceuticalised commodification of the city and interpolation of urban dwellers as medicated consumer-citizens. <br/