The expansion of the tourist city and new resistances. The case of Airbnb in Madrid

Abstract

The recent and rapid expansion of touristification offers some critical factors that have fueled the local indignation and local resistance within the 'tourist city'. These protests are very focused on the negative impacts of touristification on the local real estate market, on the construction of the city for the monoculture of tourism, on the evictions of families from touristized neighborhoods and on the deterioration of neighborhood coexistence. In this way, different local actors and social groups show a range of non-linear histories and diverse discourses about the impacts of the recent and rapid expansion of urban (in) formal tourism in their local communities. In this article, in the first place, we analyze the expansion of Airbnb in the city of Madrid. The results reflect that the Airbnb market in the city of Madrid is controlled by professional actors who do not comply with the principles of the sharing economy. Its activity is based on taking advantage of the "rent gaps" generated by Airbnb and expanding real estate income by transforming residential housing into short-term rentals for tourists, which drives up touristification processes. This process is generating discomfort among citizens and is giving rise to new resistances against the touristization of the city. In second place, the article analyzes the social responses that are taking place against the recent urban touristification that has taken place in the center of the city of Madrid, paying special attention to the variety of political actors, strategies and collective actions in the center of Madrid over the past years. This article seeks to analyze how touristification is expanding through Airbnb, and to offer an analysis of the approach with which urban social movements fight for an inclusive urban coexistence in the complex 'tourist city'.