Si proche, si loin ! Penser les processus urbains à partir des modèles de la géographie du tourisme ?

Abstract

Our geographic modernity seems to be characterized by an unprecedented process resulting in the attribution of exotic traits to familiar elements. A genealogy of our urban ways of life shows how this process stems from a body of techniques of urban usages by which city-dwellers draw distinct time-spaces closer to each other, through an “analogical transfer” (Lahire, 1998). This provides the opportunity for recreational journeys. However, such imaginary journeys require places characterized by a singular symbolic/semiotic substance, most often situated in the central neighborhoods of Western cities. It therefore seems appropriate to question the relevance of the models of geography of tourism to study certain aspects of contemporary urban processes, particularly the return to the city of a new middle class. Resorting to these models may complete the two main interpretations of gentrification, namely urban income and ostentatious consumption. Their quest for urban life, which draws them towards popular neighborhoods, may betray a search for the conditions of an immediate self-recreation, allowing them to return to the daily sphere of production feeling refreshed.

Keywords

• centre-ville
• esthétique du quotidien
• exotisation du proche
• gentrification
• territoires de la vie quotidienne
• avant-gardes