Detraditionalization and Tourism: old memories, new functions and the reconstruction of city images

Abstract

The paper opens up with a theoretical interpretation of the process of construction of the identity of cities. It is asserted that globalization entails a growing inter-city competition which, in turn, puts the cities' modernization strategies under pressure. The re-invention of local history and tradition is one of the most valuable competitive resources for city planners, developers and cultural intermediaries to launch modernization. Inter alia, tourist resources (primary and secondary) and tourist attraction help cities relocate themselves amongst competitors. The re-invention of local tradition, a process called here detraditionalization, implies not only the city's inclusion in international tourist agendas - by means of the competitive modernization of local images -, but also the reconstruction of local heritage and memories, as well as the architectural embellishment and lifeanimation of the city's historical center. In many historical cities of today, tourism is responsible for significant changes in the local economy (investments and job creation), urban preservation and reconstruction, new forms of city networking, revigoration of street life, confrontation of past cultural trajectories with other (future?) possibilities and imageries. Thus, detraditionalization and tourism interfere not only with the city's cultural landscape as such, but also with the way it is consumed and lived by both residents and visitors. From the empirical point of view, the case of the Portuguese city of Evora helps substantiate many of the hypotheses put forward.