Discussions of commodification trace their lineage back to Smith and Ricardo, as taken up by Hegel and Marx. They all insist on the distinction between use value (you wear the shoes) and exchange value (you trade the shoes for some food, or for money, the universal commodity). The essence of a commodity is that its exchange value trumps its use value.
To turn a place into a commodity is to turn something definitive into something exchangeable. A place that has become a commodity is no longer a setting that locates us with norms and perspectives. Rather, we now position the place within our prior goals and activities of exchange. The place becomes expendable, a token that can be traded for others. It is consumable by redevelopment or by pay-per-view. The norms of place and the rituals of inhabitation become shows for us, ready to be exchanged for a new edition.
(c) David Kolb, 1 August 2001