The Analysis of Urban Micro-landscapes as a Complementary Source for the Study of Touristification Processes

Abstract

For several decades, numerous investigations have highlighted the pernicious effects of tourism on the urban and social fabric of the main cities on a global scale, a circumstance that has been highlighted with drama after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Among many consequences, this situation caused the frequent expulsion of local populations, with a particular incidence in the strata with fewer resources, and its replacement by another of a floating nature. Linked to this process is the replacement of traditional businesses with establishments that have an exclusive orientation to the tourist sector. In this context, the article aims to explore the use of qualitative sources that can have a complementary use in the study of urban areas subjected to touristification processes that entail a mismatch and distortion in the traditional way of inhabiting these spaces. From the methodological point of view, the research is based on a theoretical analysis of urban tourism and the informal expression of graffiti and other similar ones. They approach the potentialities for the study of informal manifestations of the tourism processes in urban areas subjected to social and housing tensions between the local population and the visitor. In this sense, we go to the analysis of images that, in different spatial contexts and under different formats, but always of an informal and non-institutionalized nature, reveal the existence of processes that stress the daily life of the inhabitants and traditional businesses in the face of a predatory tourist sector. The main conclusions of the research pointed to the appearance of predatory expression in certain areas of the city, revealing the existence of a conflict associated with a process of touristification.