When the spell is broken: gentrification, urban tourism and privileged discontent in the Amsterdam canal district

Abstract

Expansion of urban tourism in historic districts in European cities is putting increasing pressure on these areas as places to live. In Amsterdam, an ever-growing number of tourists visit the famous canal district, which also forms the home of a group of long-term, upper-middle-class residents. While such residents are generally depicted as instigators of urban transformation, in this case, they are on the receiving end. Bringing together the literature on the sociospatial impact of tourism, belonging and the lived experience of place, this article explores the changing relationship between these established residents and their neighbourhood and provides insight into their growing sense of discontent and even powerlessness in the face of neighbourhood change.

A Flavour of Class‐Based Spatial Change: Geographies of Haute Cuisine in the Netherlands

“…This largely overlaps with the general pattern of most consumption spaces in Amsterdam, which are also predominantly concentrated in the central parts of the city. This area is also frequented by the majority of tourists and visitors who also are typically cultural consumers (Pinkster & Boterman, ). There is also a large concentration of high‐end restaurants in the more residential neighbourhoods of the Southern Borough (particularly Old South & de Pijp).…”

Loss of Social Belonging, Displacement and Social Exclusion in the Neighborhood: Urban Redevelopment in Sarigol, Istanbul, Turkey

“…The sense of belonging is affected by the sounds, smells, tastes and visual effects of the location where people live. (Pinkster and Boterman, 2017) That sense of social belonging may become a source of alienation during the transformation of the neighborhood. The transformation in the neighborhood's social fabric constitutes an impediment in terms of building new social bonds and a renewed sense of social belonging after the process.…”

Commodifying Lisbon: A Study on the Spatial Concentration of Short-Term Rentals

“…According to Pinkster and Boterman (2017), the increasing overlapping of tourist and residential uses due to the expansion of the short-term rental market and the popularization of urban tourism triggers sociospatial impacts that "can lead to tensions and negative stereotyping of tourists as well as collective organizing and protest" (p. 458). For Füller and Michel (2014), the proliferation of tourist apartments in working-class neighborhoods is a materialization of the growing interest of urban tourists in experiencing the everyday life of local communities and of the transformation of authenticity into "a key commodity for the new tourist consumption patterns" (p. 1310).…”

“…Against this background of globalization and deindustrialization, urban marketing and city branding strategies have been implemented by local administrations across the political spectrum to foster local economic growth through real estate and tourism development. However, salaries are often lower and precariousness greater in the tourism sector than in manufacturing, and strategies aimed at attracting visitors and investors may trigger remarkable sociospatial impacts on a city by stimulating processes of commodification of place and culture (Ashworth and Page 2011;Fainstein 2007;Pinkster and Boterman 2017).…”