Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse urban transformation as a tourism resource. Tourism is undeniably a powerful motor for urban transformation but in return, urban transformation can represent a resource for actors related to tourism. More precisely this paper focuses on one major transformation of modern cities: gentrification.
Design/methodology/approach
The central hypothesis of this paper is that gentrification accompanies tourism, but that gentrification itself may also become an object of the tourist gaze. The paper focuses on local guides and small touristic entrepreneurs in order to identify the tensions that might arise. The presentation of two guided tours – “Subculture Brixton Nightlife Tour” and “Where Brooklyn At?” – will enable us to explore how the gentrification of Brixton (London) and Brooklyn (New York) may be used as a tourism resource for local private entrepreneurs.
Findings
Results presented here are based on ethnographic methods such as observation as well as content analysis and semi-directive interviews. Mobilising the historical concept of “slumming”, this paper proposes an extended conceptual framework, “neo-slumming”, to analyse evolving tourism practices in modern cities, practices that are considered here as tourism’s new frontiers.
Originality/value
However, as tourism transforms cities, the process itself is now of interest to tourists and thus becomes a resource for sector businesses (Naef, 2018). Yet studies about the touristification of urban transformation are still quite rare. This analysis aims to fill this gap by looking at the way a process, such as some spectacular, rapid or radical transformation of the urban fabric, can become a touristic resource associated with specific narratives and representations. In this context, the tourist gaze (Urry, 2002) is directed on a resource characterised by its ongoing change.
« Après 10 jours d’hospitalisation, la victime vit avec une balle dans les fesses », titre un quotidien suisse à propos d’une fusillade à la sortie d’une discothèque de Genève. Le tireur est un riverain de l’établissement ; exaspéré par les bruits d’une rixe aux portes du lieu en question, il a sorti son fusil de chasse pour mettre un terme aux nuisances. Espace-temps de la ville où cultures festives et nuisances sonores se trouvent en tension, la nuit est tel un baril de poudre, explosant à chacun des heurts entre riverains, tenanciers d’établissements publics, artistes, musiciens et noctambules. Cet ouvrage revient sur l’histoire récente de la construction d’une politique de la nuit à Genève. Il montre comment celles-ci s’inspirent d’expériences conduites dans d’autres villes suisses ou étrangères pour répondre aux problèmes publics nocturnes. Si les politiques urbaines de la nuit ne sont pas chose nouvelle, leur multiplication récente au sein d’échanges mondialisés est un phénomène inédit allant fortement croissant. L’enjeu majeur est de permettre à la nuit de demeurer cet espace-temps de rencontre, de sociabilité, de liberté dans lequel nous expérimentons et construisons nos relations et identités en tous genres. Un objectif qui ne saura être atteint sans initiatives innovantes, entre autres en termes de protection, d’égalité et d’accessibilité
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