The Impact of Tourism on Residential Experience in Central-eastern Europe: The Development of a New Legitimation Crisis in the Czech Republic

Abstract

This paper argues that rapid and unfettered commercial tourism development in the historic core of Prague is playing a major role in the transformation of its social, spatial and cultural characteristics, changes which are encapsulating residential experience. Whilst recognising the potential positive economic benefits of tourism, we argue that the inherent pressures of commercialisation and touristification are creating new tensions which, if not addressed, are likely to contribute significantly to the creation of a new legitimation crisis in the Czech Republic, one epitomised by an inability to establish universal support for neo-liberal capitalist accumulation as a sustainable path for political and economic reform. Although largely impressionistic in method, this exposition seeks to offer, with the aid of comparative analyses of other European cities, observations which provide insights that may benefit a broader empirical investigation and debate on residential experience, one that is enhanced by the interdisciplinary links between housing and tourism. More specifically, it explores the complex interrelationship between residential experience and tourism, arguing that the former illuminates a deeper understanding of the power relationships driving developmental processes-in this case, tourist-driven regeneration. In their determination to achieve compatibility with neo-liberal accumulation regimes, the post-communist governments of the Czech Republic appear to be neglecting, at the macro level, the broader social and environmental objectives of minimising social exclusion and protecting the nation's cultural heritage. It is too early to assess whether the new administration has recognised the need to realign policies closer to the traditional Czech value of political consensus. However, despite the creation of a distinct planning system within Prague, which recognises the emergence of a new 'income elite' alongside the 'socially weak', state-driven political and economic policies appear to be exacerbating these new social cleavages and creating the incipient signs of a 'clone city'. We suggest the need for an alternative vision of 'capitalism', one that enables the inclusion of a broad range of interests in decision-making, if Havel's dream of a 'civil society' is to be realised.

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