Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
stock, particularly in non-central areas, as tourism accommodation (either offi cially or unof-
fi cially). On another note, the increasing predilection for major events, also linked to elevated
tourist numbers in cities and the (re)development of marginal, inner-city spaces, tends to
accelerate residential and commercial gentrifi cation processes in their wake (see Hall, 2001;
Richards and Wilson, 2004).
In this respect, in the midst of an ever-increasing contingent of urban seekers within
tourism markets that were traditionally based on cultural tourism outside of the urban
context, tourism is more visible than ever in cities of all shapes and sizes. But where do city
tourists, as urban 'seekers', fi t into the tourism-gentrifi cation nexus? What of the non-urban
or urban fringe places? What links can be made between gentrifi cation and the growth in
consumption of urban lifestyles by visitors (increasingly situated within 'neighbourhoods')?
What happens when entire apartment blocks are turned into tourism accommodation in the
midst of residential accommodation shortages?
In this chapter, we link tourism activity based on the consumption of cosmopolitan urban
lifestyles with processes of gentrifi cation, focusing particularly on inner-city and city-centre
neighbourhoods.
The chapter fi rst examines recent debates on residential gentrifi cation and the subsequent
increased importance of public space, amenities and services therein. We then look at the
commercial gentrifi cation of urban spaces through the proliferation of high-end urban leisure
consumption opportunities and the roles of commerce, culture and creativity. The remainder
of the chapter focuses on the role of tourism as leisure consumption in gentrifi cation processes
in the urban context, examining previous research linking the concepts of tourism and
gentrifi cation and highlighting noteworthy approaches to the topic. Finally, we make recom-
mendations for future research directions that might allow a more in-depth and nuanced
understanding of the role of tourism activities in socio-spatial and economic transformation
processes, including residential and commercial gentrifi cation.
Geographies of gentrifi cation
Gentrifi cation was fi rst identifi ed in the 1950s in New York and London, where the
movement of middle-class households into working-class neighbourhoods was occurring -
albeit on a relatively modest scale. Since the 1960s the process of gentrifi cation has evolved
to the extent that four distinct 'waves' have been recognised, closely linked with the economic
cycle, changing lifestyle demands and public policy (Hackworth and Smith, 2001; Lees
et al.
, 2008). A fi rst wave of sporadic gentrifi cation took place prior to the early 1970s
when the process was confi ned to small residential neighbourhoods in the US and Western
Europe.
Following economic recession, gentrifi cation reached a turning point in the 1980s, which
witnessed the 'anchoring of gentrifi cation', whereby the process became implanted in previ-
ously disinvested central city neighbourhoods. Around this time, the process widened to
encompass former industrial areas. The process then spread throughout the urban hierarchy and
became a 'global urban strategy' for large-scale urban regeneration (N. Smith, 2002), and the
emergence of 'safe' areas of middle-class families bestowing values previously associated with
suburban living led them to return to the cities they had fl own from in the post-war years
(
bigthink.com,
2011). This process has been associated with the concept of the 'urban idyll' of
regenerated landscapes aimed at the affl uent middle classes (Colomb, 2007; Hoskins and Tallon,
2004). Indeed, two key features of this second wave were the integration of gentrifi cation with
new cultural strategies of economic redevelopment with investment in museums, art galleries
