Efectos espaciales de la tematización cultural para la recreación y el turismo en los corredores culturales peatonales del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México

• Autores: César Mauricio Salas Benítez, Álvaro López López
• Localización: Investigaciones geográficas, ISSN 0188-4611, ISSN-e 2448-7279, Nº. 98, 2019
• Idioma: español
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Spatial effects of cultural thematization for recreation and tourism in the pedestrian cultural corridors in Mexico City’s Historic Center
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Este artículo aborda las improntas territoriales de la peatonalización de los dos corredores culturales más importantes del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México (CHCM): Regina-San Jerónimo y Madero-Gante-Condesa. Dichos corredores forman parte de los programas de rehabilitación patrimonial de los gobiernos local y federal que, con el fin de incentivar la economía local, han reorientado las actividades hacia el turismo y el consumo cultural mediante la tematización patrimonial, lo que ha resultado en cambios en el uso del suelo hacia actividades orientadas al ocio, la recreación y el turismo, y un incipiente proceso de gentrificación en determinados espacios.

  • English

    This article examines the spatial effects of the rehabilitation and pedestrianization of the two major cultural corridors of the Historic Center of Mexico City (CHCM): Regina-San Jerónimo and Madero-Gante-Condesa. Seeking to attract a larger number of visitors and investors to the city, currently promoted as “Cultural Capital”, the local and federal governments have invested heavily on the recreation and tourism sectors of the economy in the city center.Endowed with a substantial monumental heritage, these two cultural corridors have a high potential for tourism and culture-oriented economies, and the diverse cultural amenities offered are currently promoted in the national and international markets by both administrations and businessmen alike.The effects of the spatial processes involved in the rehabilitation and pedestrianization of these two corridors (namely, cultural thematization, changes of land use towards leisure activities, space refunctionalization for recreational and tourism activities, abandonment by lower-income residents followed by the arrival of the middle classes, among others) are either positively or negatively perceived by different stakeholders, according to their own perspectives.This article has used a theoretical-conceptual approach to investigate urban space as related to leisure and recreational activities in a capitalist consumer society. This has allowed confirming, on the one hand, the use of the territory as a commodity and as an economic resource in a selective and differentiated manner; on the other, the key role of space as a production factor, as well as a social projection, through the materialization of certain tendencies. This is the case of the pedestrian cultural corridors, whose aim is to confer meaning to places for their subsequent usufruct.The article explains how the above influences historical-cultural thematization and contributes to build spaces on preexisting narratives, sometimes magnifying their historical content, in order to produce spaces for consumption within a territory homogenized according to cultural themes in line with market-oriented policies and/or demands. An incipient elitization or gentrification of space, evidenced as the occupation by high-income social strata following the abandonment by low-income population, is also identified.After detailing the methodological approach, the article addresses the territorial configuration of the CHCM, with particular emphasis on its recreational and tourism organization and infrastructure. A review of the current cultural heritage projects, including changes of land use, by federal and local governments, as well as by private entrepreneurs and social stakeholders, revealed the specific weight of each of these activities, which were further confirmed through field interviews to key stakeholders.The role of government offices, tourism agencies, and entrepreneurs in promoting the meaning and historical content associated to the thematization of these spaces in the media (printed magazines, tourist guides, and electronic sources) is examined. In order to elaborate an appealing product for visitors, consumers, and tourists, in a landscape reminiscent of the pre-Columbian and Colonial periods, the media displays an image of the CHCM as a unique cultural thematic space: the seat of ancient cultures that founded the City of Tenochtitlan, coexisting with a repository of the architectural heritage from the Colonial period.Finally, the socio-spatial effects of the changes in land use from traditional neighborhood shops to recreation and tourism businesses are explored in both cultural corridors. The use of space by certain social strata depends on the presence of specific stakeholders and the conduct of certain activities, a circumstance that has led to the loss of social cohesion and local daily practices, the rise in the price of land leasing, the abandonment of the area by the low-income population, and the arrival of middle-class residents.