Tourism, Cities and Global Change (Part I) - Gentrification and Touristification

Monday, 7 July 2025: 13:00-14:45
Location: SJES029 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
RC50 International Tourism (host committee)
RC21 Regional and Urban Development

Language: English, French and Spanish

Tourism, as a main expression of contemporary society, includes and reflects its main paradoxes and ambiguities.

It means freedom, hope, creativity, development, inclusion in global processes, and even a powerful tool of definition, negotiation and (re)invention of individual, collective, local, global and glocal identities.

Yet it means also exploitation, exclusion, loss of identity, perpetuation of colonial gazes, cultural stereotypes and social inequalities.

In the same way, it can be a tool of enhancement of cultural heritage and a mechanism of heritage crystallization; a practice related to nature and a fact entailing environmental exploitation.

Its rapid recovery after the pandemic has had unexpected effects. What initially seemed like an unprecedented event, destined to transform tourism and define new paradigms, after a few years appears to have caused only a minor disruption without significant consequences. The main critical issues remain largely unaddressed.

In many countries, overtourism is becoming a major problem with its interrelated issues (gentrification, housing crisis, touristification, Disneyfication etc.) deeply transforming the quality of life and the socio-cultural context, sparking reactions and even fueling anti-tourism behaviour.

We welcome papers addressing the following topics, primarily but not exclusively:

Tourism and:

  • globalization and cultural change
  • crisis and recovery, creativity and resilience
  • environmental and socio-cultural sustainability
  • impacts of overtourism on urban culture and social life
  • sustainable practices and urban planning to deal with overtourism
  • touristification, identity, and local communities
  • anti-tourism behaviour
  • cosmopolitanism and democracy
  • co-existence at the same time and place of social forms of national and international experiences
Session Organizer:
Marxiano MELOTTI, Niccolò Cusano University, Rome, Italy
Co-Chair:
Thiago DUARTE PIMENTEL, Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Brazil
Oral Presentations
Gentrification and Extractivist Touristification in Lavapiés, Madrid. Reasons and Impacts of a Unique Convergence in Contemporary Southern Europe
Alvaro MAZORRA, UNED, Spain; Jordi NOFRE, New University of Lisbon, Portugal; Manuel GARCÍA-RUIZ, Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Portugal
Traditional Communities at Risk: Land Speculation and Touristification in Colônia Z-13 (Copacabana Beach - City of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil) and in Paraty Mirim (City of Paraty, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil)
Luzimar SOARES BERNARDO, University of São Paulo, Brazil; Angela FILENO DA SILVA, Instituto Çarê, Brazil; Marcelo VILELA DE ALMEIDA, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Mcdonaldization of the Canarian Gastronomic Culture: From Local Heritage to Tiktok Aesthetics.
Paloma CASTRO-FERNÁNDEZ, IPNA-CSIC, Spain; Raúl PÉREZ-CASTAÑEDA, IPNA-CSIC, Spain
The City on Your Phone: The Space between the Digital and the Urban
Pablo MARTINEZ GALINDEZ, Spain; José MANSILLA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain; Guillermo AGUIRRE, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain