Refining concepts: Gentrification,touristification and financialization in Andalusian cities

Abstract

Research on gentrification and touristification has proliferated in tourism-led urban economies. Most studies have illustrated the process at different latitudes, scales and depths, but advances in urban theory have been scarce. By opening a dialogue about financialization as a crucial phenomenon interrelated with urban and tourism changes from a political economy standpoint, we can amplify, elucidate and refine conceptualizations through urban comparative research in a subaltern, peripheral and tourism-dependent European region such as Andalusia. Our focus is on transformation in three important cities (Cádiz, Málaga and Seville), particularly in their historic city centres, where the tourist economy has grown significantly in the past decade, altering previous waves of gentrification. The driving force of the process has been the shift from long-term rentals to short-term holiday rentals for tourists (STRs). As a result, previous gentrifiers have been displaced, and potential middle-class households have been discouraged from moving into central neighbourhoods. This has hindered conventional residential gentrification. Simultaneously, affluent lifestyle migrants have also settled in these urban areas. Drawing on quantitative indexes for demographic, housing and tourism data, coupled with policy document analysis and secondary sources to contextualize financialization in Andalusia and Spain, we propose the conceptualizations of relative residential gentrification and residential touristification to better comprehend the phenomena. The research ultimately illustrates substantial differences between Cádiz, an economically and demographically stagnated city, and the more dynamic cities of Málaga and Seville. In these two latter cities, we observe a shift in the financialization cycle from residential gentrification to residential touristification.