The consequences of touristification in the center of large cities. The case of madrid and barcelona

Abstract

In the context of Spanish big cities and during the last decades, Madrid and Barcelona reveal similar logics related to the rise of housing prices and the population’s mismatch of purchasing power. Tourism and intensive touristification are determinant factors that explain why these cities excel from the rest, showing extreme difficulties face to housing purchasing and/or renting (Harvey, 2004). Urban centre is the most affected space due to these processes, being one of the most serious effects the displacement of the most vulnerable citizens in favour of the most well-off ones. Two case studies of two most vulnerable neighbourhoods in the centre of Barcelona and Madrid show how these displacements of population operate in two levels-quantitated and qualitative-and how the population’s displacement goes in parallel to the rest of more economic strategies.