From urban exploration to ruin tourism: a geographical analysis of contemporary ruins as new frontiers for urban tourism
Résumé
Despite the increasing academic interest for urban ruins and evolutions of urban tourism, research on ruin tourism as an emergent form of urban tourism practice is still lacking. Drawing on existing works on urban exploration, the purpose of this paper is to provide a first geographical insight into ruin tourism and its spatial implications in terms of imaginaries, practices and regulation of urban space. It shows that ruin tourism can be analyzed as a new practice of urban tourism based on the reappropriation and commodification of alternative practices developing in marginalized urban areas. The paper provides evidence of ruin tourism’s contribution to the normalization of urban space through tourism conquest of new urban territories. It also shows that the practice fosters contested material and symbolic appropriations of place.
Drawing on an urban and cultural geography approach, this paper is based on a mix of empirical methodologies. It contributes to current research on alternative tourism practices in marginalized urban areas as well as on tourist appropriation of liminal spaces. It provides a first analysis of ruin tourism and underscores its potential as a geographical object for the investigation of a wide range of urban issues.