The Impacts of Tourism on Lisbon' Cultural Identity
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
PAULINE DANIELE ANNE-MARIE DALY THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM ON LISBON’ CULTURAL IDENTITY Scientific advisor: Prof. Doctor Álvaro Dias Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias Escola de Ciências Económicas e das Organizações Lisboa 2020 PAULINE DANIELE ANNE-MARIE DALY THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM ON LISBON’ CULTURAL IDENTITY Dissertation presented to obtain the Master's Degree of Tourism, with a specialization area in Strategic Management of Tourism Companies, conferred by the University of Lusófona Humanities and Technologies, with the Jury Appointment Order No. 216/2020 with the following Jury composition: Jury: President: Prof. Doctor Mafalda Patuleia (ULHT). Advisor: Prof. Doctor Álvaro Dias (ULHT) Arguente: Prof. Doctor Anna Rita Costa Peres (ESHTE) Dissertation defence date: 13.10.2020 Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias Escola de Ciências Económicas e das Organizações Lisbon 2020 2 Dedication To my supportive family, that gave me strength when needed and courage to eventually cross the finish line with pride. 3 Abstract In the past last decades tourism was long perceived as a solution to remediate to economic crisis and recessions, while the impacts were secondary and weren’t qualified. Focusing of the consequences of tourism development, the identities of historic urban areas were constantly been neglected as essential features and symbols of their attractiveness. However, long before tourism, modifications of cities spatial structures and social geography were conducted by governments as strategies to repopulate certain urban areas abandoned for historical or economic reasons. For instance, through gentrification, urban rehabilitation or revitalisation, the urban structures became more appealing and attracted investments that strengthen local economies. Nevertheless, these transformations have dismantled cultural patterns and were amplified by touristification. This investigation deals with gentrification and urban rehabilitation as precursors of tourism growth and how it influences a neighbourhood’s cultural identity. Using a historic touristic destination as an example gave leverage to the understanding of the repercussions. Lisbon historic neighbourhoods; Alfama, Mouraria and Bairro Alto, influenced our understanding with the active participation of the residents as co-contributors of this research. Findings confronted our pre-existing understandings on tourism growth to the impacts generated on cultural identity. Key words: Tourism - Gentrification – Multiculturalism – Touristification – Cultural identity. 4 Table of contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 7 2 Literature review ............................................................................................................................. 9 2.1 Tourism ................................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.1 Overtourism and touristification ................................................................................... 10 2.1.2 Residents perceptions and attitudes ............................................................................... 11 2.2 Multiculturalism .................................................................................................................... 13 2.3 Gentrification ........................................................................................................................ 15 2.4 Tourism impacts .................................................................................................................... 18 2.5 Multiculturalism recent interpretations ................................................................................. 21 2.6 Gentrification outcomes ........................................................................................................ 22 3 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 24 3.1 Qualitative analysis ............................................................................................................... 27 3.2 Instruments and participants’ sample .................................................................................... 27 3.3 Case study ............................................................................................................................. 30 3.3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 30 3.3.2 Alfama ........................................................................................................................... 32 3.3.3 Mouraria ........................................................................................................................ 34 3.3.4 Bairro Alto..................................................................................................................... 36 4 Results and discussions ................................................................................................................. 38 4.1 Cultural identity contents ...................................................................................................... 41 4.2 Impacts related to tourism growth ......................................................................................... 43 4.3 Illustrated results ................................................................................................................... 45 5 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 46 5.1 Theoretical considerations ..................................................................................................... 46 5.2 Practical considerations ......................................................................................................... 47 5.3 Limitations and future investigations .................................................................................... 49 6 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 51 5 Indexes Tables Table 1. Criterions of selection 26 Table 2. Sample of the participants 29 Table 3. Cultural identity contents identified in the interviews 40 Table 4. Impacts of tourism on historical neighbourhoods in Lisbon. 41 Figures Figure 1. Lisbon Centre 33 Figure 2. The existential phenomenological research method 39 Figure 3. Illustrated results 46 6 1 Introduction Tourism is driven by consumption-led growth and the production of cultural images, and for some scholars, tourism development can be characterised as a process that involves social interactions, relations and conflicts (Gotham, 2005). While tourism growth modifies socio- cultural attributes, it can be questioned whether tourism development improves or deteriorates resident’s quality of life. However, in order to understand the bigger picture that underlines tourism, this paper’ opening introduces several notions that had to be considered. While tourism can either be understood as a result of gentrification or a pre-condition (Gravari- Barbas & Guinand, 2017), gentrification is affected by the changing patterns of tourism flows and is defined as a brutal change of landscapes. Nevertheless, the consequences of gentrification includes social and cultural implications that rise upward tensions in local communities, disrupting the social cohesion and creating exclusions (Sequera & Nofre, 2018). These exclusions are supported by the touristification of certain spaces, responding then again to tourism flows. Touristification may be seen as a vehicle for gentrification, that conducts a form of urban regeneration and socioeconomic revitalisation. However, some scholars questioned the real impacts of gentrification and opened discussion on whether gentrification could offer the possibility to improve the living conditions and be considered as a necessity for survival (Gravari-Barbas & Guinand, 2017) or on the contrary, that gentrification should be resisted (Elliott-Cooper et al., 2019). While some are more concentrated towards the restoration of historic homes (Glass, 1964), the social diversification that it engenders (Lees , Slater & Wyly, 2013) and the eventual economic benefits, others accentuated the inevitable spatial destruction of certain spaces (Cocola-Gant, 2015) and represented it as a socio-spatial process that answers to the needs of affluent residents and consumers, neglecting the lower-classes, which by all means are direct actors of the cultural image. In this sense, diversification can be contextualised through residents, new gentrifiers or immigrants. Although multiculturalism can reinforce the ideal of tolerance and cultural heritage, it can also enhance disruption and loss of national identity (Vertovec & Wessendorf, 2004), which eventually accentuated scholars’ discussions towards the beneficence of diversified neighbourhoods. Through globalisation, multiculturalism can either be perceived as a cultural degradation and dissolvement, that accentuated the gentrification process and weakened local economies (Fainstein, 2005) or as a gain of attractiveness and precursor of 7 economic added plus value through diversification (Rath, 2007). One of the challenges is to ascertain whether cohabitation between migrants,