Exploring Urban Creativity: Visitor Experiences of Spitalfields, London

Abstract

This article critically examines visitor experiences of a creative urban area, to help explore the relationships between creative industries, consumption, and the development of urban tourism. After reviewing available literature on creative areas and their appeal for emerging types of contemporary tourists, the article concentrates on one creative area in London: Spitalfields. Drawing on 50 semistructured interviews conducted with visitors between November 2007 and March 2008, the article explores the role of the creative industries in developing urban tourism, via an analysis of visitors' perceptions, experiences, and characteristics, as well as the tangible and intangible qualities of an emerging tourism area. The findings suggest that Spitalfields is an established offthe-beaten-track destination that is starting to attract more mainstream tourists with the consequent departure of some groups of visitors. “Atmosphere” appears to be crucial to the visitor experience and is created by a number of elements including independent shops, a high number of young artists, new fashions, and cultural diversity. All these elements contribute to make the area seem distinctive, but at the same time “typically London.” The findings shed light on the complexity of the tourist experience, interrogating some key concepts such as atmosphere, perceived authenticity, and new forms of cultural capital in the context of a creative urban area.

Review of Optimism, Creativity, and Spirituality in Tourism Research

“…(Liu, Horng, Chou & Huang, 2017) Co-competition course design (learning mechanism) could promote tourism/hospitality students' critical thinking concerning sustainability and develop their creativity. (Pappalepore, Maitland & Smith, 2010) Tourists' experiences in a creative urban place were more influenced by the creative people than by accessibility of tangible consumer products. (Richards, 2011) Creative tourism echoes the increase combination of tourism and creativity.…”

Strategic foresight for (coastal) urban tourism market complexity: The case of Bournemouth

“…A more contemporary analysis also assesses the increased embeddedness of tourism offers within the normal life of a city necessitates the creation of new relationships between people dwelling in cities and people visiting them (Pappalepore, Maitland, & Smith, 2010). As cities become more attractive as tourism destinations, tourists become more experienced and sophisticated in consuming the experience of urbanity.…”

Resident Perceptions of New Urban Tourism: A Neglected Geography of Prejudice

“…These “new tourist areas in cities” (Maitland , p. 15) are marked by the coincidence of imaginations, objects and performances (Haldrup & Larsen ), which are named “[h]ybrid performances […] (that) both have effects and produce affects” (Haldrup & Larsen , p. 286). The resulting atmospheres of these “new tourism area(s)” (Pappalepore et al , p. 218) are created by these performances and the material features of the place like independent shops, bars, and cafés, fancy people or cultural diversity (Pappalepore et al ). The residents in these quarters are often globally oriented people using cosmopolitanism for their own identity constructs and lifestyles (Rofe ).…”

“…The geography of new urban tourism is characterised by increasing contacts between residents and tourists due to the active quest by visitors for ‘typical’ mundane experiences in everyday spaces of the visited city. New urban tourists look for physical encounters with the local population in ordinary, mostly gentrified neighbourhoods (Pappalepore et al ). These lived “spaces are always contingent, created through the myriad encounters of both residents and visitors” (Selby , p. 237) and could create convivial juxtapositions (Maitland , p. 15).…”