Citizen actions in touristic neighbourhoods. Barcelona as a case study

Abstract

Touristification transforms the urban life of many tourist destination cities,leading to changes in the uses and values of city real estate, and generating a displacement of the most vulnerable sectors of the population. The objective of this research is the analysis of citizens strategies for facing this transformation process, considering that the associative and protest tradition in neighbourhoods can dampen (and this is our hypothesis) the intensity and effects of touristification.Therefore, this work examines the responses to the touristification processes of two Barcelona city neighbourhoods: Barceloneta and Hostafrancs. The results show that these areas resist and preserve the neighbourhood identity thanks to the drive and proactivity of its associative and cooperative fabric, both social and commercial, together with some political instruments proposed by the local government; albeit with different manifestations and results. The analysis of in-depth interviews, complemented by data on the number of tourist accommodation and the evolution of residential housing prices,constitute the empirical basis for carrying out this work.