IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ijurrs/v27y2003i2p286-299.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The marketing of diversity in the inner city: tourism and regulation in Harlem

Author

Listed:
  • Lily M. Hoffman

Abstract

This article brings regulation theory and the broader post‐Fordist debate together with an empirical study of the emergence and consequences of tourism in Harlem. It shows that the valorization of cultural diversity, as well as under‐served markets, has helped reposition this formerly unmarketable area in relation to city, state and capital markets. Moreover, as development occurs, the nature of regulation pertaining to Harlem begins to change. The author argues that the failure to disaggregate – to link the elements of the restructuring economy to outcomes for specific areas and residents, leads to an overly pessimistic view. Tourism‐based development may act as an equalizing force, helping to rebalance the uneven urban spatial development characteristic of Fordism and symbolized by the social isolation and concentrated poverty of the racial ghetto in the US. The role of cultural capital as the engine of growth in Harlem, has meant that revitalization promotes cultural differentiation along with standardization. Overall, cultural tourism requires substantial civic engagement. This gives the community control, but at the same time disciplines and stabilizes. Urban tourism thus incorporates a new mode of regulation, making for greater social/political and economic inclusion, but with the associated costs as well as benefits. Cet article allie la théorie de la régulation et le débat plus large du post‐Fordisme, à une étude empirique sur l'apparition et les conséquences du tourisme à Harlem. Il montre que la valorisation de la diversité culturelle, de mäme que les marchés sous‐approvisionnés, ont aidéà repositionner cette zone auparavant sans attrait commercial dans une relation avec les marchés de la ville, de l'État et des capitaux. En outre, avec l'expansion, la nature de la régulation propre à Harlem a commencéà changer. L'absence de désagrégation – qui associe les éléments de l'économie en restructuration aux résultats en faveur de zones et résidents particuliers – conduit à une vision des plus pessimiste. Toutefois, un essor basé sur le tourisme peut avoir une force compensatrice, aidant à rééquilibrer l'aménagement spatial urbain inégal, caractéristique fordienne symbolisée par l'isolement culturel et la pauvreté concentrée dans les ghettos raciaux aux Etats‐Unis. Le rôle du capital social en tant que moteur de croissance d'Harlem s'est traduit par une revitalisation favorisant à la fois différenciation culturelle et normalisation. Le tourisme culturel implique surtout un engagement civique réel, celui‐ci donnant la maä'trise à la communauté, tout en apportant discipline et stabilité. Le tourisme urbain amène donc un nouveau mode de régulation, créant une meilleure inclusion socio‐politique et économique, mais avec les coûts (et avantages) associés.

Suggested Citation

  • Lily M. Hoffman, 2003. "The marketing of diversity in the inner city: tourism and regulation in Harlem," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 286-299, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:27:y:2003:i:2:p:286-299
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.00448
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.00448
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1468-2427.00448?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris & Konstantina Soureli, 2012. "Cultural Tourism as an Economic Development Strategy for Ethnic Neighborhoods," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 26(1), pages 50-72, February.
    2. Cheung, Chau-kiu & Ng, Sik Hung, 2012. "Impacts of financial crisis on social engagement in Hong Kong," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 623-632.
    3. Ilaria Giglioli, 2017. "From 'A Frontier Land' to 'A Piece of North Africa in Italy': The Changing Politics of 'Tunisianness' in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 749-766, September.
    4. Henning Füller & Boris Michel, 2014. "‘Stop Being a Tourist!’ New Dynamics of Urban Tourism in Berlin-Kreuzberg," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1304-1318, July.
    5. Elena Bogan, 2022. "The Tourism Potential of the Jewish Cultural Heritage in Bucharest," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, August.
    6. Andrea Corsale, 2021. "Jewish Heritage Tourism in Krakow. Authenticity and Commodification Issues," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-13, February.
    7. Petter Törnberg & Letizia Chiappini, 2020. "Selling black places on Airbnb: Colonial discourse and the marketing of black communities in New York City," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(3), pages 553-572, May.
    8. Juan Antonio Jimber del Río & Ricardo David Hernández-Rojas & Virginia Navajas-Romero & Amalia Hidalgo-Fernández, 2020. "The Loyalty of Tourism in Synagogues: The Special Case of the Synagogue of Córdoba," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-18, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:27:y:2003:i:2:p:286-299. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0309-1317 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.