Alpha Territorialisation Venice Edition

In cities and territories that do not have the characteristics of global cities, but that are substantially invested by certain types of global flows, such as luxury tourism, a ‘special kind’ of alpha territory emerges, that deserves attention. The implications are relevant to many heritage-rich contexts around the world where tourism is increasingly becoming a primary socio-economic driver and is contributing to the increase of socio-spatial inequalities.

Within this context, Venice can be considered an extreme case. In Venice old town, the presence of transnational elites contributing to increasing socio-spatial inequalities is linked both to the ‘traditional’ luxury hotels and to the stock of historic buildings bought by foreign investors who use them for very short periods of the year. In recent times, luxury tourism has taken over the peripheral parts of the Venetian archipelago, where exclusive experiences are possible, away from the mass tourism crowds.

Drawing on this idea, this contribution investigates space-time daily routines of both residents and tourists in relation to specific parts of the city, highlighting places where the super-rich engage with local communities (including local élites) and places where they are completely excluded from local life, contributing to the disruption to the values of established elites. This disruption can be seen as characteristic of alpha territorialization phenomena.

References

Atkinson R (2021) Alpha city: How London was Captured by the Super-Rich. Verso Books.

Burrows R, Webber R and Atkinson R (2017) Welcome to ‘pikettyville’? Mapping London’s alpha territories. The Sociological Review 65(2): 184–201.

Tedesco C, Basso M, Mazzoleni C, Morea V (2024) Luxury Venice: the spread of touristification processes as alpha territorialisation. Human Geography, p. 1-13, doi: 10.1177/19427786241227405