Shameless Media Plug: York Weekly

Nancy Cicco has written an editorial for York Weekly that employs omnitopia to critique the encroachment of "formula" restaurants in her small Maine town. A pertinent quote:

"Omnitopia." It's unknown who first coined the term, which is a melding of the Latin "omnis," meaning "all," and the Greek word "topos," meaning place. Andrew Wood, a professor of communication studies at San José University, is a leading researcher and chronicler of the phenomenon, which occurs when divergent people, often in divergent locales, encounter a sameness of experience when socializing in ubiquitous, homogenized public spaces.

According to Wood, architectural spaces in modern-day society that give rise to a sense of omnitopia are all around us: Corporate office buildings and workplace cubicles, motel rooms, and airport terminals are but a few examples.

Wood is fascinated with the subject, and clearly York residents are, too.

I think it's cool that Cicco is using omnitopian scholarship to advance a local debate. She rightly notes that the Latin and Greek roots belong to us all, illustrating that there are many articulations of omnitopia - and many ways it can be used beyond the academic context.

Read more: York should leave formula restaurant ban as it is