The role of Airbnb creating a “new”-old city centre: facts, problems and controversies in Porto
Urban tourism growth, favoured by short term rental platforms like Airbnb, is changing the cities dramatically. All over Europe local governments have been facing unbridled growth of the so-called sharing economy and developed different regulatory approaches: full prohibition; laissez-faire; and di...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Asociación Española de Geografía
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles |
| Online Access: | https://www.bage.age-geografia.es/ojs/index.php/bage/article/view/2820 |
| _version_ | 1797278351152381952 |
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| author | Pedro Chamusca José Rio Fernandes Luís Carvalho Thiago Mendes |
| author_facet | Pedro Chamusca José Rio Fernandes Luís Carvalho Thiago Mendes |
| author_sort | Pedro Chamusca |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Urban tourism growth, favoured by short term rental platforms like Airbnb, is changing the cities dramatically. All over Europe local governments have been facing unbridled growth of the so-called sharing economy and developed different regulatory approaches: full prohibition; laissez-faire; and different sorts of limitations. We take Porto as a case-study, considering the exponential growth of tourism, Airbnb and floating city users over the past decade. We make use of qualitative and quantitative methods and draw on the official AirDNA database to analyse the relation between Airbnb and urban transformation, and the governance context. We conclude that the growth of floating city-users –stimulated by Airbnb– has been the main driver of urban change. The case of Porto –which in many ways illustrates the fast growth of short-term, rental-driven urban tourism in southern Europe– demonstrates that Airbnb’s global corporate narrative around property sharing, micro-entrepreneurship and tourism democratization hardly fits the urban reality of host professionalization, income concentration and growing massification. In this context, besides laissez-faire, urban sustainability concerns call for smarter regulatory approaches associated with more widely shared visions, and clear short, medium and long-term objectives.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T16:01:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-54b967200864432b876a080ac7e3abe1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0212-9426 2605-3322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T16:01:59Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Asociación Española de Geografía |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles |
| spelling | doaj.art-54b967200864432b876a080ac7e3abe12024-03-04T18:27:51ZengAsociación Española de GeografíaBoletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles0212-94262605-33222019-12-0183The role of Airbnb creating a “new”-old city centre: facts, problems and controversies in PortoPedro Chamusca0José Rio Fernandes1Luís Carvalho2Thiago Mendes3Universidade de Aveiro / CEGOT (Portugal)Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto / CEGOT (Portugal)Faculdade de Economia da Universidade do Porto (FEP) / CEGOTCEGOT Urban tourism growth, favoured by short term rental platforms like Airbnb, is changing the cities dramatically. All over Europe local governments have been facing unbridled growth of the so-called sharing economy and developed different regulatory approaches: full prohibition; laissez-faire; and different sorts of limitations. We take Porto as a case-study, considering the exponential growth of tourism, Airbnb and floating city users over the past decade. We make use of qualitative and quantitative methods and draw on the official AirDNA database to analyse the relation between Airbnb and urban transformation, and the governance context. We conclude that the growth of floating city-users –stimulated by Airbnb– has been the main driver of urban change. The case of Porto –which in many ways illustrates the fast growth of short-term, rental-driven urban tourism in southern Europe– demonstrates that Airbnb’s global corporate narrative around property sharing, micro-entrepreneurship and tourism democratization hardly fits the urban reality of host professionalization, income concentration and growing massification. In this context, besides laissez-faire, urban sustainability concerns call for smarter regulatory approaches associated with more widely shared visions, and clear short, medium and long-term objectives. https://www.bage.age-geografia.es/ojs/index.php/bage/article/view/2820 |
| spellingShingle | Pedro Chamusca José Rio Fernandes Luís Carvalho Thiago Mendes The role of Airbnb creating a “new”-old city centre: facts, problems and controversies in Porto Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles |
| title | The role of Airbnb creating a “new”-old city centre: facts, problems and controversies in Porto |
| title_full | The role of Airbnb creating a “new”-old city centre: facts, problems and controversies in Porto |
| title_fullStr | The role of Airbnb creating a “new”-old city centre: facts, problems and controversies in Porto |
| title_full_unstemmed | The role of Airbnb creating a “new”-old city centre: facts, problems and controversies in Porto |
| title_short | The role of Airbnb creating a “new”-old city centre: facts, problems and controversies in Porto |
| title_sort | role of airbnb creating a new old city centre facts problems and controversies in porto |
| url | https://www.bage.age-geografia.es/ojs/index.php/bage/article/view/2820 |
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