Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
appropriate framework within which to explore the hitherto-demarcated consumption and
production-based approaches to researching gentrifi cation and tourism.
Researchers addressing gentrifi cation through a tourism lens could also take heed from
Zukin (2010), who reminds us that there are two sides to authentic places - the old/original
authenticity and the new/creative authenticity, and that there is a need to leave space for both
domains while remembering that gentrifi cation tends to disfavour resident diversity. This
may be promoted by advocating mixed-use urban zoning, maintaining neighbourhood
diversity of long-term residents and generating policies favouring small businesses that are
non-chain or non-franchise-based. The role played by different urban groups within neigh-
bourhood tourism needs to be understood in greater detail, not only in terms of emergent
'studentscapes', 'ethnoscapes' and 'creative clusters' but also in terms of the changing entre-
preneurial activities, leisure needs and housing situations of the whole range of incoming and
long-term residents. The tourism-related aspects of major events and their role in the gentri-
fi cation process should also be taken into account (see Richards and Wilson, 2004).
Future research also needs to give consideration to what has been juxtaposed as 'the end of
gentrifi cation', following the recent fi nancial crisis (Lees, 2009), although bearing in mind
that gentrifi cation has slowed before with previous claims as to the 'end' of the process.
Economic recession constricts the fl ow of capital into gentrifying and gentrifi ed neighbour-
hoods, prompting a reversal of the process or 'degentrifi cation' as previously experienced in
the early 1970s and early 1990s. However, inevitably, the process reignites with subsequent
property and housing market upswings.
Finally, as the predilection for neighbourhood-based urban lifestyle consumption by visi-
tors and wealthier urban residents increases, there is a need to maintain longer term resident
and business needs in the foreground and ensure that the tendency towards the touristic
consumption of everyday life does not transform local livelihoods into urban spectacles
(extending to the spectacularisation of urban poverty and consequent social problems)
(Gibson, 2009). In short, there is a need for further research into how local neighbourhood
landscapes can maintain their resilience and vitality in the face of increasing tourism and
avoid descending into leisure playgrounds or tourism monocultures at the expense of daily,
regular living and working.
