Shaken, not stirred: New debates on touristification and the limits of gentrification

Abstract

The recent touristification of the historic downtown quarters of many European cities is not without its social, spatial and economic impacts. In turn, many global cities show a lack of efficient tools in tackling and addressing the negative impacts derived from touristification. Facing this, some scholars have importantly examined the interplay between tourism, gentrification and urban change. However, we urban studies scholars have not yet admitted the existence of serious limitations regarding our current theoretical, conceptual and methodological approach in exploring the Tourist City. In this paper we argue that the rapid and intense touristification of central areas of post-industrial cities across the world requires a new breakthrough approach in order to understand the process of urban touristication in all its complexity. That is why we argue that what many scholars sometimes erroneously call ‘tourism gentrification’ need to go beyond the ‘classical’ approach used to explore how urban touristification affects the social, cultural and urban fabric of our cities.