Why Some Cities Don't Like Tourists - Bloomberg View:
'via Blog this'
Interesting article, but the author excludes New York City from his analysis, and New York may be the most egregious example of tourist resentment.
For years, many New Yorkers have lamented the changes wrought by the Disneyification of Times Square. The gritty and dangerous character of the area was obliterated as the neighborhood became a homogenized mall. Billions of dollars in real estate and entertainment were made as well, so the argument for gentrification, in dollars and cents, will always fall to the moguls.
But New York City was always a city of neighborhoods, and business districts. Most of these are gone now as well. The garment center is a shell of it's former self. Flowers, finance, diamonds, manufacturing, ethnic enclaves, they are all falling by the wayside. Trends larger than the city are the cause of much of this, but it's pretty much become a city devoted to tourists and the super rich. There is less and less of the city left for the city dwellers themselves. Even old rail lines, converted to urban parkland are just another excuse for tourists to invade what were once workaday neighborhoods.
Manhattan is turning into a place for only the super wealthy, and the mega-story high rise condos and their shadows across Central Park are the latest evidence of this. What does the future hold? It can only be more of the same, as the AirBNB phenomenon spreads to the outer boroughs and suburbs, when even residences become quasi-hotels for even more tourists. Will the city even exist anymore, or will it become a caricature of itself, as if it were just an Epcot version of what tourists expect to see?
'via Blog this'
Interesting article, but the author excludes New York City from his analysis, and New York may be the most egregious example of tourist resentment.
For years, many New Yorkers have lamented the changes wrought by the Disneyification of Times Square. The gritty and dangerous character of the area was obliterated as the neighborhood became a homogenized mall. Billions of dollars in real estate and entertainment were made as well, so the argument for gentrification, in dollars and cents, will always fall to the moguls.
But New York City was always a city of neighborhoods, and business districts. Most of these are gone now as well. The garment center is a shell of it's former self. Flowers, finance, diamonds, manufacturing, ethnic enclaves, they are all falling by the wayside. Trends larger than the city are the cause of much of this, but it's pretty much become a city devoted to tourists and the super rich. There is less and less of the city left for the city dwellers themselves. Even old rail lines, converted to urban parkland are just another excuse for tourists to invade what were once workaday neighborhoods.
Manhattan is turning into a place for only the super wealthy, and the mega-story high rise condos and their shadows across Central Park are the latest evidence of this. What does the future hold? It can only be more of the same, as the AirBNB phenomenon spreads to the outer boroughs and suburbs, when even residences become quasi-hotels for even more tourists. Will the city even exist anymore, or will it become a caricature of itself, as if it were just an Epcot version of what tourists expect to see?
No comments:
Post a Comment