This article introduces and theorises the concept of platform gentrification as a structural muta... more This article introduces and theorises the concept of platform gentrification as a structural mutation in the production of urban inequalities under platform capitalism. Departing from the classical four characteristics of gentrification-capital reinvestment, arrival of new higher-status groups, landscape transformation, and displacement-this paper reinterprets these dimensions through the lens of the on-demand city, where digital rent platforms (e.g. Airbnb®), social media platforms (e.g. Instagram®), ride-hailing services (e.g. Uber®), and coworking companies (e.g. WeWork®) mediate, valorise, and restructure urban life. Rather than adding a new typology to the gentrification debate, platform gentrification is proposed as a critical framework to understand how algorithmic mediation, digital economies, and data-driven infrastructures reshape real estate markets, urban aesthetics, residential dynamics, and modes of exclusion. The paper argues that platform infrastructures not only organise mobility, consumption, and visibility, but also anticipate and accelerate new forms of displacement, both physical and symbolic. This concept is developed here as an interpretative tool particularly relevant for highly digitised urban environments, where the mediation of everyday life through platforms has become an invisible infrastructure of urban change. Keywords platform gentrification; urban inequalities; platform urbanism; This article is included in the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) gateway. Open Peer Review Approval Status AWAITING PEER REVIEW Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article.
In this article I examine the emergence of digital nomads as the 'new creative class' in urban ma... more In this article I examine the emergence of digital nomads as the 'new creative class' in urban marketing strategies that highlight these workers' technological proficiency and hypermobility and blur the lines between work, leisure and travel in a globalized digital context. I explore the evolution of neoliberal urban marketing strategies and entrepreneurial urbanism-where cities compete to attract this mobile, knowledge and tech-savvy workforce, challenging traditional workspaces and altering the socioeconomic landscape of cities. First, I review the widely criticized concepts of 'creative class' and 'creative cities'. I then examine the literature on digital nomadism and the need for a spatial and urban studies perspective. Finally, I propose new critical research questions around the sociospatial impact of digital nomad politics in cities. In summary, this article posits that digital nomadism is an aspirational rhetorical concept based on technological skills and global mobility, representing a new strategy in urban marketing and competition and a new challenge for urban scholars.
This special issue is the result of collaborative research carried out within the framework of tw... more This special issue is the result of collaborative research carried out within the framework of two projects: LIKEALOCAL: Sociospatial impacts of Airbnb. Tourism and transformation in four Spanish cities -RTI2018-093479-A-I00 (2019-2021) and ONDEMANDCITY: Platform capitalism, digital workers and the techification of everyday life in the contemporary city -PID2021-122482OB-I00 (2022)(2023)(2024)(2025). The papers in this special issue analyse key issues of the digital turn in urban studies, focusing on the pre-eminence of platforms in the tourism-led economic and social restructuring of our cities. This 'big platformisation of cities' has generated changes in urban lifestyles, consumption patterns and forms of capital accumulation, impacting on trade relations, forms of mobility and labor market shifts in the city. Therefore, theoretical concepts such as 'platform economy', 'platform capitalism' or 'platform urbanism' are being used to explain current shifts in the dynamics of urban capital accumulation, leaving behind innocuous ones such as 'collaborative economy' or 'smart city'. Such conceptual twists reflect the analytical relevance of platform-mediated labor and the mechanisms of surplus value extraction from platforms to fully unveil the spatial and social transformations in the city. Specifically, the papers of this special issue follow three fundamental themes: the role of digital platforms in the itinerant lifes of urban dwellers, the dynamics of tourism rentierism in the platform age, and the precariousness of labour in digital capitalism. Taken together, these multidisciplinary perspectives illustrate the relevance of understanding how digital platforms shape contemporary urban life through their interactions with space, time, landscape and urban societies.
This paper examines the physical limits but paradoxically symbolic expansion of the Airbnb model ... more This paper examines the physical limits but paradoxically symbolic expansion of the Airbnb model beyond the the touristified historical center of Madrid. We move to the margins of the city and analyzed every host ad and guest comment in the Villaverde district, characterized as a former industrial working-class neighborhood also welcoming various waves of immigrants. Our results reveal a novel figure in the platform model, which we have characterized as the "peripheral host," who attempts to participate in this business model based on two strategies: first, by constructing an imaginary "digital tourism space" that inserts the periphery into the tourist city; and second, by "platforming host practices" through the provision of a "personalized guest experience" and on-demand tasks. In our study, we propose an explanatory model that sheds light on the ways in which platform urbanism is transforming work, culture and urban society beyond city center.
The Spanish real estate and its ‘sea and sun’ tourism model, were profoundly disrupted during the... more The Spanish real estate and its ‘sea and sun’ tourism model, were profoundly disrupted during the Great Recession of 2008–2014 As a result, hedge funds and their speculative operations have favoured an intense process of urban touristification in the largest Spanish cities, especially over the past ten years. The aim of this paper is to examine how the COVID-19 crisis has triggered shifts in the supply of short-term rentals and the type of demand of such rentals. By taking into account such changes, we will address the potential changes that the current pandemic scenario might bring between the ‘classical’ real estate market and short-term rentals in Spain.
Converting residential housing into short-term rentals (STRs), through platforms such as Airbnb, ... more Converting residential housing into short-term rentals (STRs), through platforms such as Airbnb, has become a very profitable business, and a tourist-led rentier class has been formed in connection with this activity. However, the pandemic stalled this process and STRs began to be listed on residential rental platforms. Our paper questions whether these STRs have actually returned to the residential market. Our research shows how the pandemic fostered what we term as the emergence of digital polyplatform rentierism through the hybridisation of rental markets. This process amplifies the exchange value of housing and the owners' future expectations of profits, enhancing the opportunities and means for the financialization of housing. For tenants, this model produces a neoliberal tenant dystopia: the supply of rental housing is reduced and the power dynamic between owners and tenants altered, with the former empowered and the latter weakened. Consequently, without stricter public policy to protect the right to housing and the right to live in the city, the platformisation of housing will result in less stable and less affordable rental prices, thereby fostering housing precarity and tenant impoverishment.
Como respuesta a la Gran Recesión (2008-2014) y la consecuente crisis del sistema financiero y de... more Como respuesta a la Gran Recesión (2008-2014) y la consecuente crisis del sistema financiero y de producción nacional, la administración portuguesa adoptó a inicios de esta década el turismo y la rehabilitación urbana como nuevos sectores fundamentales para superar los diferentes impactos socioeconómicos derivados de esta última crisis. Ello ha conllevado procesos de fuerte transformación urbana y social de los barrios históricos de Lisboa. El barrio de Alfama, en el centro de la capital lusa, se ha visto recientemente transformado en una nueva arena financiera glocal para la ejecución de operaciones de especulación inmobiliaria de inversores locales y transnacionales. Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar la reciente expansión de la turistificación en el Alfama y cómo este nuevo proceso urbano ha interrumpido defacto los procesos de gentrificación y estudentificación iniciados desde finales de los 90s e inicios de la década pasada. En su parte final, el artículo sugiere que la...
The former harbour quarter of Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon has been recently transformed into ... more The former harbour quarter of Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon has been recently transformed into the most crowded nightlife spot in the city, causing some negative social and spatial impacts such as the worsening of community liveability during nighttime hours. In addition, the inefficacy of the latest community intervention project conducted in the area (SAFE!N) has been largely due to the liminal governance of the urban night applied in the area. In the final remarks, some actions are suggested to foster long-term sustainable coexistence between the right to the city and the right to leisure in the area.
Ciudad y Resiliencia. Última llamada. Editorial Akal, 2020
No se trata de una exclusión, se trata de una cuarentena. No se trata de expulsar sino, al contra... more No se trata de una exclusión, se trata de una cuarentena. No se trata de expulsar sino, al contrario, de establecer, fijar, dar su lugar, asignar sitios, definir presencias, y presencias en una cuadrícula. No rechazo, sino inclusión 1 .
El turismo ha ganado peso de forma progresiva e imparable en el sur de Europa suponiendo una part... more El turismo ha ganado peso de forma progresiva e imparable en el sur de Europa suponiendo una parte fundamental de la economía de gran parte de sus ciudades. Sin embargo, estos procesos no se encuentran exentos de problemas y contradicciones, que se expresan de forma diversa en el espacio urbano. Como presenta este monográfico, el rápido crecimiento de la economía del turismo urbano ha provocado ciertos cambios sociales, espaciales y económicos entre las comu-nidades locales, que se han evidenciado en los últimos tiempos en torno a usos incompatibles del espacio público, incremento generalizado del precio de la vida, sustitución de residentes por visitantes en el parque residencial, desplazamiento forzoso, declive demográfico de los centros urbanos, sustitución y desaparición de tipologías comerciales tradicionales, entre otros. Estas cuestiones se exploran, en primer lugar, a partir de este artículo introductorio; segundo, con un artículo teórico centrado en la relación entre turismo excesivo y los circuitos de ocio nocturno. Y en tercer lugar, con cuatro estudios de caso que cubren Madrid, Abstract Introduction to the special issue: Touristification and urban transformation. Debates on tourism specialization and its socio-spatial consequences
Claudia' is neither a real name nor an owner who puts a room at the service of the collaborative ... more Claudia' is neither a real name nor an owner who puts a room at the service of the collaborative economy. It is a pseudonym used by a transnational company which manages short-rentals apartments: 211 Airbnb listings in Madrid, 138 of which are in the city centre. This paper's main arguments are based on the fact that Madrid city centre is experiencing a process of airbnbisation which is driven by professional actors specialized in the short-term rental business. The analysis of this model includes an in-depth examination of the professionalization, concentration and monopolization of Airbnb in Madrid, from a temporal and territorial perspective. The paper concludes that Airbnb in Madrid is dominated by professional actors specialized in the business of renting apartments as short-term rentals, who mainly operate within the city's Central District, and whose activity does not comply with the principles of the sharing economy. This model has more to do with traditional forms of accommodation than with new hospitality models based on the sharing economy principles, and generates negative impacts on the economic sustainability of the city and its inhabitants.
The Great Recession (2008-2014) and the consequent crises in both the national financial and prod... more The Great Recession (2008-2014) and the consequent crises in both the national financial and production systems have led the Portuguese administration to adopt tourism and urban rehabilitation as new pivotal sectors to overcome the critical crisis-derived impacts on the economy and society. Moreover, both national and local administrations have deployed a range of legislative initiatives to attract transnational real estate investment and new high-income residents to the country, including generous tax benefits and residency permits for large foreign investors. This is of greater relevance in the historic neighbourhoods of Lisbon city centre, as in the case of Alfama, which has recently been transformed into one of the most important urban hotspots in the country for both local and transnational real estate investors. By focusing on this historic quarter of Lisbon, this paper examines how processes of gentrification and studentification occurring in the area since the late 1990s and early 2000s have been disrupted by recent processes of touristification and Airbnbisation in Alfama, transforming the entire neighbourhood into an 'out-door hotel'. The paper concludes by suggesting that, while urban touristification appears today as a new reproduction mechanism of glocal financial capital, the Airbnbisation of former lower-class central urban areas of post-recession southern European cities emerges as the newest, most aggressive form of urban accumulation by dispossession and spatial displacement against the working and middle-lower classes (both locals and migrants) of the 'tourist city'.
The recent touristification of the historic downtown quarters of many European cities is not with... more The recent touristification of the historic downtown quarters of many European cities is not without its social, spatial and economic impacts. In turn, many global cities show a lack of efficient tools in tackling and addressing the negative impacts derived from touristification. Facing this, some scholars have importantly examined the interplay between tourism, gen-trification and urban change. However, we urban studies scholars have not yet admitted the existence of serious limitations regarding our current theoretical, conceptual and methodo-logical approach in exploring the Tourist City. In this paper we argue that the rapid and intense touristification of central areas of post-industrial cities across the world requires a new breakthrough approach in order to understand the process of urban touristication in all its complexity. That is why we argue that what many scholars sometimes erroneously call 'tourism gentrification' need to go beyond the 'classical' approach used to explore how urban touristification affects the social, cultural and urban fabric of our cities.
Empiria. Revista de metodología de ciencias sociales, 2018
La reciente y veloz expansión de la turistificación ofrece algunos factores críticos que han alim... more La reciente y veloz expansión de la turistificación ofrece algunos factores críticos que han alimentado la indignación vecinal y la resistencia local dentro de la 'ciudad turistística'. Estas protestas están muy centradas en los impactos negativos de la turistificación en el mercado inmobiliario local, en la construcción de la ciudad para el monocultivo del turismo, en la expulsión de familias de barrios turistificados y en el deterioro de la convivencia vecinal. De este modo, diferentes actores locales y grupos sociales muestran un abanico de historias no lineales y discursos diversos sobre los impactos de la reciente y veloz expansión del turismo urbano (in)formal en sus comunidades locales. En este artículo, en primer lugar, se analiza el desarrollo de la actividad de Airbnb en la ciudad de Madrid. Los resultados reflejan que el mercado de Airbnb en la ciudad de Madrid está controlado por actores profesionales que no cumplen los principios de la economía colaborativa. Su actividad se basa en aprovechar los “rent gaps” que genera Airbnb y ampliar las rentas inmobiliarias por medio de sustituir vivienda residencial en vivienda para turísticas, lo que impulsa los procesos de turistificación. Este proceso está generando malestar entre los ciudadanos y está dando lugar a nuevas resistencias contra la turistización de la ciudad. En segundo lugar, el artículo analiza las respuestas sociales que se está dando a la reciente turistificación urbana que ha tenido lugar en el centro de la ciudad de Madrid, prestando especial atención a la variedad de actores políticos, de estrategias y de acción colectiva en el centro de Madrid a lo largo de los últimos años. Este artículo busca por tanto analizar cómo se desarrolla la turistificación a través de Airbnb, para después ofrecer un análisis del enfoque con que los movimientos sociales urbanos luchan por una coexistencia urbana inclusiva en la compleja 'ciudad turística'.
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