Abstract
As global cities become increasingly transnational, retail environments have become key sites where mobile publics negotiate belonging through spatial and commercial experience. While transnational consumers are widely theorised, the spatial implications of their participation in global retail remain underexplored. This conceptual paper draws from transnational and diaspora studies to argue that retail design operates as a transcultural interface where familiarity and difference coexist, shaping plural modes of belonging. It proposes the concept, ‘Transnationally Resonant Retail Design’, a conceptual framework outlining how affective resonance, cultural mediation, and social recognition foster civic belonging within commercial spaces. These principles are illustrated by the author’s travel vignettes, drawing from their diasporic positionality to relate resonant and dissonant experiences of retail environments. By reframing retail as socially-responsive infrastructure, the research positions design as an active agent in cultivating belonging across borders, extending global retail discourse beyond localisation toward a more inclusive understanding of transnational spaces.
Keywords
belonging; community; diaspora; global retail design; transnational consumer culture
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1995
Citation
Khan, Z. (2026) Belonging across borders: a framework for transnationally resonant retail design, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1995
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Belonging across borders: a framework for transnationally resonant retail design
As global cities become increasingly transnational, retail environments have become key sites where mobile publics negotiate belonging through spatial and commercial experience. While transnational consumers are widely theorised, the spatial implications of their participation in global retail remain underexplored. This conceptual paper draws from transnational and diaspora studies to argue that retail design operates as a transcultural interface where familiarity and difference coexist, shaping plural modes of belonging. It proposes the concept, ‘Transnationally Resonant Retail Design’, a conceptual framework outlining how affective resonance, cultural mediation, and social recognition foster civic belonging within commercial spaces. These principles are illustrated by the author’s travel vignettes, drawing from their diasporic positionality to relate resonant and dissonant experiences of retail environments. By reframing retail as socially-responsive infrastructure, the research positions design as an active agent in cultivating belonging across borders, extending global retail discourse beyond localisation toward a more inclusive understanding of transnational spaces.