Understanding Moments and Adaptabilty of Evolving Complex Tourism Places. Recent critical events in Barcelona

Keywords: Moments, Destination Evolution, Evolutionary Economic Geography, Socio-Ecological Resilience, Complexity, Cultural political economy
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 58

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse and critically reflect on path shaping and key catalysts for change in destination evolution, understanding destinations as complex places with economic, urban and residential functions, where paths emerge and interact in a complex environment at the regional and global level. In particular, the authors discuss the synergies of the ‘moments’ conceptual framework with recent developments in evolutionary economic geography, cultural political economy, socio-ecological resilience and complexity/chaos-related theoretical constructs.
Promoting the cross-fertilisation of these concepts and theories can compensate for the weaknesses of canonical EEG approaches when studying the geographies of evolving tourism places over time and in space. First, it emphasises the significant role of both selective agency-driven processes and spontaneous incidents in shaping destination paths. Second, it allows a deeper level of engagement with subtle and incremental path shaping factors explaining the (often unexpected) ways in which destinations break with their historical legacies or respond to crises. Third, it appreciates the inseparable socio-cultural processes – including policies and key agencies – that underpin destination economic/social urban development pathways.
In order to illustrate the transferability of the ‘moments’ framework to any type of place and its potential as a strategic planning tool, the paper tackles the recent evolutionary trajectory of a well-documented, ‘paradigmatic’ case: the city of Barcelona. It does so by identifying and analysing the city´s key adaptation responses as a global tourism destination to critical events affecting the visitor economy (including the COVID-19 crisis).