La petite ville touristique : espace de cohabitation ou espace en temps partagé ? L’exemple de Sarlat (Dordogne)

Abstract

This article aims to explore the issue of space and time sharing in tourist cities. Through the example of the small tourist city of Sarlat (Dordogne) we sought to verify whether this shared space is a real cohabitation or shared but asynchronous use of the same space. Investigative work, intersecting non-participant observation and interviews, has highlighted the functioning of this small tourist city in its spatial and temporal dimensions. The results show that the practices of the various individuals who invest this city (tourists, permanent residents, seasonal workers, street artists) do not really allow cohabitation. Above all, the presence of tourists generates spatio-temporal recompositions of resident practices. Residents' practices fall within in response and are closely dependent on those of tourists. In addition, while some permanent residents say that they must "flee the city" during the high tourist season, the workers involved in tourism must share the space with the tourists, without the possibility of escape. By definition, seasonal tourism workers are present in the same places and at the same time as tourists. While residents’ practices in summer season are rather marked by avoidance strategies, those of the seasonal workers and street artists are characterized by appropriation and space marking, aiming to save places of "selfsegregation".

Keywords

• space sharing
• copresence
• cohabitation
• tourist city
• Sarlat