Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GEOGRAPHIES OF
Introduction
The relationship between urban change and the production and consumption of
neighbourhood-based urban tourism and leisure has become increasingly evident in recent
decades. As Huning and Nov y (2006: 2) argue, 'while academic interest with regard to urban
tourism in the past has concentrated primarily on the inner city - the areas commonly “hit
hardest” by tourism - it is only recently that scholars [have] focus[ed] on the development of
tourism in urban neighborhoods “beyond the beaten path” '.
In neighbourhoods beyond the inner city, urban tourism often plays a more visible role in
the displacement of one set of economic activities by another, or by extension in the case of
residential neighbourhoods, of residential populations by others. As such, we might argue
that tourism is both generated by and generates processes of commercial and residential
gentrifi cation, particularly in the urban context. Indeed, in public policy terms,
cosmopolitan
tourism development is widely cited as a justifi cation for urban regeneration and revitalisation
efforts with the invariable goal of socially and economically 'upscaling' neighbourhoods and
the invariable consequence of the displacement or marginalisation of existing populations,
amenities and commercial activities.
Some commentators emphasise the potential of urban tourism development in alleviating
the effects of the recent fi nancial crisis by seizing opportunities in the neoliberal tradition by
drawing on the collective energies of creative individuals and enterprises (cf. Florida, 2002,
2005). Others, however, point to this 'fast policy climate' based on creativity and culture
(Peck, 2005, 2010; Slater, 2006; Wilson,
Chapter 16
in this volume) as generating increasing
poverty gaps, uneven development and the displacement of urban populations in the context
of debates on the right to the city (Brenner and Theodore, 2003; Harvey, 2009; Lees
et al.
,
2010; Marcuse
et al.
, 2009; Smith, 1996).
As the revitalisation efforts previously more commonly based in ex-industrial areas (such
as waterfronts and ex-manufacturing spaces) are being broadened out to include mixed resi-
dential and commercial urban areas (in particular ethnic precincts, traditionally working-
class neighbourhoods or indeed any architecturally notable but run-down urban areas),
tourists and tourism activities are increasingly permeating the boundaries of these spaces.
This process is accelerated by the tendency in cities towards the use of residential housing
