IN-PERSON Barcelona Livable Cities. Section B

Abstract

The paper dwells on city development in the interplay of the touristification of cities, housing questions and the right to the city based on empirical findings from the cities of Venice and Vienna. Based on the analysis of urban policies in housing and tourism development pathways, the paper shows the challenges and strategies of urban environments. The empirical basis built for the analysis is a multilevel actor analysis, a policy analysis and qualitative long-term ethnographic and social spatial analysis of public spaces in the heritage ensembles of both cities. Based on ethnographic research it carries out the challenges of caring for the cities in an environment where nearly no local inhabitants are left in urban neighbourhoods and looks on the consequences of these developments. Morover it provides an analysis of the concepts and strategies for tourism and urban development, such as the visitor economy strategy by the Viennese tourism board, which is based on the question what tourism can give back to the city and its inhabitants. In contrast to the city of Venice, which is operating with the concept of house rules called “enjoy and respect Venice” where the rules of usage for the public space are explained. The paper aims to contribute knowledge to cities such as Barcelona facing huge challenges in the realm of housing and tourism development.