The Costa del Sol is one of the main mass tourism destinations throughout the Mediterranean coast. The city of Malaga has stayed unconnected to this sector until recently, when different policies have been applied in order to take advantage of its situation as the main arrival point for visitors travelling to Andalusia. In just a decade the town has turned itself into a major cruise tourism destination and it has been subject of a complete renovation to display the sort of heritage that visitors expect to see. This process has led to the creation of wide monofunctional sectors, gentrification and theming of the tourist-historic city while most of the rest of the Historic Site areas and their patrimonial objects remain neglected. This paper focuses on the work that several civil organizations are currently carrying out to analyze these consequences and propose alternatives by combining academic research and participatory cartography.

1. MAPPING THE IMPACT OF TOURISM IN URBAN HERITAGE
Daniel BARRERA FERNANDEZ
Department of Urbanism and Regional Planning, High Technical School of Architecture, University of
Seville, Seville, Spain
barrera@arquired.es
Abstract
The Costa del Sol is one of the main mass tourism destinations throughout the Mediterranean coast.
The city of Malaga has stayed unconnected to this sector until recently, when different policies have
been applied in order to take advantage of its situation as the main arrival point for visitors travelling to
Andalusia. In just a decade the town has turned itself into a major cruise tourism destination and it has
been subject of a complete renovation to display the sort of heritage that visitors expect to see. This
process has led to the creation of wide monofunctional sectors, gentrification and theming of the
tourist-historic city while most of the rest of the Historic Site areas and their patrimonial objects remain
neglected. This paper focuses on the work that several civil organizations are currently carrying out to
analyze these consequences and propose alternatives by combining academic research and
participatory cartography.
Keywords: cartography, heritage, participation, theming, web
1. Introduction
Malaga is the administrative capital of the Costa del Sol, however, it has remained out of the mass
tourism sector until the last decade, when several actions have been taken to adapt its Historic Site
Areas to an urban tourism destination. This process considers interventions like numerous museum
openings, associate land-uses implantation, the creation of pedestrian zones, the remodelling of the
port, interventions in built heritage or the cultural policies that have focused on trying to achieve the
title of The European Capital of the Culture, among others. The present work studies the context that
takes place, the reasons, the agents, the different instruments that are applied and the functioning of
the process. Consequences related to heritage preservation are going to be focused on and civil
movements studying the processes and proposing alternatives are going to be specially considered.
1.1 Tourist adequacy of the historic city, the case of Malaga
The town has consolidated itself as the main arrival point in the Costa del Sol, especially thanks to the
airport that is immersed in an important extension. The city has turned itself into a major hub for
tourists travelling throughout Andalusia due improvements in infrastructure, in particular highways and
trains, with special attention to high speed trains. This provides a significant opportunity for the city to
attract a larger proportion of visitors than had been possible in the past.
On the other hand, the presence of Sun and Sand tourism is very little in this city, due principally to the
complete urbanization of the coastline. Coinciding with the obsolescence of the port facilities, the city
has found an opportunity in cruise tourism, becoming the second largest Spanish destination in this
sector just behind Barcelona. Cruise passengers are experiencing an important increase and have a
different profile than other visitors, their principal feature is to dedicate only a few hours to visiting their
destination, so it becomes necessary to concentrate the attractions and the auxiliary activities in a very
limited tour. Because of that, resources presented to the tourists are a few group of monuments and
spaces concerning Picasso's figure or establishing a thematic or proximity connection.
Diverse agents, resources and policies are involved in developing the new urban tourism destination.
Among the agents it is possible to find public administrations and private entities from different levels:
municipal, regional, state and European. The agents are in charge of the different plans, programs,
projects, actions and instruments that are globally included in policies. These include culture and
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2. heritage, tourism, urbanism and regional planning. Only the European policies directly related to the
transformations that have been carried out in the city are going to be mentioned.
In cultural matter stands out the European Capital of Cuture action. It has its origin in Mélina
Mercouri's initiative to the Council of the European Union in June 1985. The current phase is born of
the 1419/1999/CE Decision of the European Parliament, modified by the 1622/2006/CE Decision of
the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union. A great number of cities aim to be
named European Capital of Culture due to its media repercussion, the development of culture and
tourism and the recognition on part of the inhabitants of the importance of the designation of their city.
Malaga tried to be designated in 2016, but finally it was rejected last September.
In urban development subject, the European Territorial Strategy refers to the cities attractive for
tourism development but it also warns of the danger that supposes mass tourism, cultural
commercialization and uniformity that destroy the individuality and the identity of cities, land
speculation or oversized infrastructures projects in relation to the environment.
1.2 Common features of applied policies
From the analysis of the different policies that are applied three common aspects can be
distinguished, such as patrimonial selection, the relation between urban local marketing and urban
tourism and the widespread presence of the Beaubourg effect, they are going to be explained briefly.
Regarding the patrimonial selection, the attention is focused in some objects and others are
dismissed. Thus, in the last five years period it has increased considerably the number of those
elements that have been given the maximum protection and the investments center principally in
those who have been declared Monument and that suppose a tourist attraction. On the other hand,
substitution, degradation or demolition are common in the rest of cultural heritage, even in the case of
juridically protected ones: i.e. interior emptying, plot addition, extension of the façadism phenomenon,
complete historic streets and blocks occupation, demolitions of protected buildings, construction of car
parks in zones with great presence of archaeological remains and insertion of volumes that break with
the historic configuration of the city.
Related to the urban local marketing, the presence of monumental heritage, to be an attractive toursit
destination and the cultural character are taken as an advantage and are promoted by the strategies
of urban marketing since they help to create a more competitive city in attracting investments. By
these means it is explained the sense of a series of projects of great media impact that are not clearly
tourist and much less suppose a cultural improvement for the residents, though they are related to
both. The symbolic spaces of the historic city are used as advertising support of these expositions and
shelter the architectures, settings and events that can transmit this message in a clearer way.
And finally, the Beaubourg effect, called this way in reference to the impact that had the opening of the
Centre Pompidou in Paris Beaubourg's neighbourhood. In Spain it is known as Guggenheim effect
due to the similar scope that had the inauguration of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. It is common
to call internationally known architects for developing these projects and the result is usually an
aesthetically interesting intervention, often hiding the destroy of the patrimonial values that they
involve. These projects are justified in a supposed renewing capacity of degraded zones. The
Beaboug effect has impregnated the orientation of public policies and is visible in all areas like
museums, hotels, public spaces, housing, infrastructures and others.
Fig. 1: Port renovation to allow a major cruise tourism destination.
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3. 1.3 Theming
Public policies and creation of tourist resources are leading to a series of consequences in the historic
city that have been included in theming, this can be related to heritage, residents, land-uses and
cultural integrity.
Heritage theming supposes fixing the attention in the objects that more enriche the tourist visit,
normally those of more eye-catching character like painted façades or archaeological remains. It has
also an omnipresent immaterial connotation, such as the association of Malaga with Picasso. Heritage
theming carries in some cases historic simplification because only a few periods are selected, it is
common to abuse of restorations or even recreations and other types of heritage tend to be excluded
such as industrial or port heritage. Moreover, an aesthetic standarized criterion is assumed in urban
renovations, known as beautification, that provokes urban spaces to be designed in order to please
tourist preconceptions instead of their adequacy to the city’s patrimonial values.
Residential theming means the population emptying and its substitution for persons with major
revenue, known as gentrification. The economic capacity selection has joined one that focuses on the
way of life or profession. In this way, projects of public initiative destined to craftsmen and young
cultural workers are in course of approval.
Land-uses theming refers to activities substitution and to the creation of wide monofunctional sectors,
where intervenes the proliferation of primary resources, fundamentally museums and associate
activities. Outstanding is the implantation of great capacity hotels often without taking into
consideration the surroundings where they are located and restaurants and gifts shops that tend to
occupy all the commercial areas and even the public streetsRegarding museums, there are about to
be 29 of them in the Historic Site. Two in special: the Picasso Museum and the Thyssen Museum,
have created authentic neighborhoods-museums on having included several buildings, blocks and
streets.
Cultural integrity theming is related to the exaltation of some cultural manifestations in the historic city
and the creation of a great amount of new ones. Among them stands the Spanish Cinema Festival
due to its media impact. This process also implies actors creation as an extra attraction, some of them
are based on traditional professions such as biznagueros and almonds sellers.
Fig. 2: Restoration of painted façades as a main tourist attraction.
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4. 2. Mapping the process. Cartac
The Cartac (Tactical Cartographies) group has been analyzing different situations and consequences
during several years thanks to participatory cartographies. The group is working in the world of maps
and in the field of social research. The aim is to take advantage from the possibility that maps have to
transmit social denounce and the oportunity that they offer to reveal conflicts related to heritage.
The group explores the possibilities that cartography offers as a transfroming tool of the territory where
people live. Cartac considers territory not only as a geographical space but also as a habitat
composed by multiple lyers (social, cultural, economic, artistic, ecological, political...) Cartography is
understood not only as a representation technology, but also in a way that anyone could be a
cartographer and so take part actively in the construction of their territory. Thus, it is proposed an
instrument to the service of the citizenship to visualize conflicts and to generate changes in order to
help to solve the denounced situations.
2.1 First project: What Maps Don’t Show
Among the diversity of maps that can be produced, conflict maps represent (through images, icons,
texts, etcetera) problematic situations that are normally hidden on purpose. The steps that are
followed to design a conflict map are:
- Diagnosis phase: information extraction (through site-based work, interviews, discussion groups,
documents analysis).
- Cartographic production phase: transmission of information to a map in digital format, paper, video,
etcetera (through icons, colors).
- Return phase: acknowledgement of conflicts studying their iterconnections (through debates and
workshops).
Following the explained methodology, Cartac organised the workshop called What Maps Don’t Show.
Construction of participatory cartographies with wikimaps, in collaboration with the International
University of Andalusia. For this purpose, participants walked along the streets of the Historic Site of
Malaga with a descriptive and analytical gaze, to document through photography, video and texts the
different situations lately reflected in the wikimap created during the workshop.
In this case the aspects considered were heritage conservation, tourism, commerce, housing, mobility,
economy and urban spaces, among others. The map created was used to show the great widespread
existence of patrimonial objects in ruins and urban voids.
In the transfer of information phase it was used an open code IT tool called Meipi. A meipi can be
defined as a participatory space where users can put information on a map, this can refer to a place or
to a topic. The maps so created can be useful for collaborative dynamics, workshops, associations,
companies, groups of friends and artistic actions since users can directly link multimedia files
(photography, video or sound) with an exact place of the city and share the personal opinions of the
different users.
Fig. 3: Meipi: What Maps Don’t Show. Categories view.
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5. All meipis possess a title and an own Internet address and begin with a description. They are ordered
by categories and inside them different entries are created. Each one refers to a place in the space,
has a textual description and photographs or other multimedia files. A great advantage of meipi is that
all authorized persons can edit the entries and any user can leave a comment. The running is similar
to a blog. Entries are provided with tags, that allow a faster search when the complexity increases and
the establishment of horizontal groups between entries of different categories.
All the information contained in a meipi can be visualized in four different views: map, list, categories,
mosaic.
- Map: the uploaded entries are shown with a geographical reference.
- List: the entries are ordered by the date when they were created. They can also be ordered by votes.
- Categories: the last entries from each category are shown in columns.
- Mosaic: the uploaded images are organized by the user, creating mosaics that can be saved.
2.2 Second project: Malagaturismo
Another relevant work done in collaboration with the University of Seville is going to be explained. The
purpose was to identify those elements that show the functional transformations of the historic city to
adapt it to a urban tourism destination.
The working process was divided in preparatory phase, capture of information, transfer of information,
presentation and extraction of conclusions. In the phase of capture of information a tour across the
streets and public spaces was done, writing down every element’s location, name and references.
Activities carried out in protected patrimonial buildings and spaces were distinguished.
In this case, four categories were created, and each of the elements was registered as an entry.
Capture and transfer of information process have been systematized and entries have always the
same structure. Tags are used as a descriptor of entries from different categories. 404 entries were
made in total, constituting nowadays the second work of this type as for number of elements.
Entries work like files and follow this structure:
- Name of the element.
- Category. Basic classification.
- Tag. It is useful to create subgroups and distinguish common features of elements belonging to
different categories.
- Photography of the element.
- Small description.
- Urban protection (if there is any). If the plot is included in the Historic Site limits or in the area of the
City Center’s Protection Plan.
- Conservation Area. If the plot is located in a protected surrounding of a Site included in the
Andalusian Heritage Inventory.
- Architectural protection. It specifies the typology and the architectural degree of protection (if there is
any), according to the Local Heritage Inventory or the Andalusian one.
- Other comments. Particular features related to the conservation, author, etcetera.
Fig. 4: Meipi: Malagaturismo. Front page.
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6. In the phase of presentation of information different plans were disagned depending on the different
elements and conclusions. The resultant information has been divided into hotels, commerce and
restaurants, mobility, information in pedestrian routes, urban scene, safety, waste management and
Picasso references.
A) Hotels. Classified into three groups depending on their category. A total of 42 establishments have
been studied in the Historic Site, with distinction of the ones that take part of buildings with legal
protection. Hotels’ establishment, specially for great capacity ones, is usually being carried without
respecting the architectural or urban values of the spaces where they are built. One of the most
dramatic case is the hotel projected for the area known as Hoyo de Esparteros, that would entail the
occupation of a historic street, the addition of several plots and blocks, the demolition of a protected
building, to double the maximum height of the zone and to build an underground four storey-car park
in an area with a great presence of archaeological remains.
B) Commerce and restaurants. Divided into three groups: gifts shops, tourist restaurants and
traditional shops adapted to the tourist use. The third group is the one for neighbourhood
establishments that offer products consumed by the local population as well as products mainly for
visitors. This category gives an idea of the expansion zones which implies the tourist movement. In
case of the hotels, buildings that have any type of patrimonial protection have been distinguished. 120
places have been analyzed in total in the Historic Site. Tourist shops and restaurants tend to
concentrate in limited areas and throw an approximate idea of the historic sector mostly used by
visitors. They converge in axes and nodes and create whole monofunctional sectors, this
consequence is more evident in the case of gifts shops.
C) Mobility. The different means of transports that are used by tourists, locals or both have been
analyzed, giving attention to their stops and the routes across the Historic Site.
D) Information in pedestrian routes. Registration of the location of the tourist street signs that indicate
the resources, street plans and tourist information points. 127 elements were identified in total. Their
location give an aproximate idea of the pedestrian routes that are currently in use and of those that
are wanted to be used by the local government. It also stands out the variety of designs and their
concentration around a zone or a resource. These factors cause visitors’ confussion instead of helping
them to orientate.
E) Urban scene. This categoy is divided into stage and actors. In the first group the pedestrianized
areas and the reurbanized ones have been studied. Beautification initiatives like wall poems,
contemporary sculptures, singular furniture and artistic lighting were also analyzed. Oustanding are
the initiatives that show or even rebuild some patrimonial elements like painted façades or the
medieval muslim wall. Actors refer to the location of almond sellers and street artists. The
concentration of these persons coincides with the zones with a major tourist activities density.
F) Safety. The CCTV surveyed area has been analyzed. This coincides with the broader streets of the
Historic Site which are once more the most significant tourist route.
Fig. 5: Commerce and restaurants location in the Historic Site Area.
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7. G) Waste management. Study of the location of 38 underground waste containers. These elements
have been chosen because their implantation was made in the period of the tourist transformation of
the Historic Site. They are fixed in a place and show which areas are wanted to be more attractive.
Their distribution coincides with the highest density of tourist activities and the new tourist zones.
There is a significant contrast between the improvement of waste management in these areas and
the one observed in the degraded boundaries.
H) Picasso references. The figure of the painter occupies a preferential place in tourist guides, plans,
routes and policies of all kinds. The aim was to verify if Picasso's prominence in these means was
reflected in the lived city so a total amount of 24 indications were analyzed. On the whole, these
references have a reclaim function for visitors, opposite to the lack of signs that can find in the spaces
mainly frequented by the local population.
3. Conclusions
The spatial concentration of visitors and tourist activities reflects the selection process that supposes
the urban tourism phenomenon around a small area of the Historic Site and a few patrimonial objects.
This selective process demonstrates the unsettled application of the cultural, urban and tourist policies
in the different neighbourhoods, depending on their interest as a touristical resource.
In addition, the selective process gives place to a series of consequences concerning different aspects
of the the city included in theming, which affect to the management of architectural and urban
heritage, residents, land uses and cultural integrity of the city.
Participatory cartography allows to have a simultaneous vision of the location, description and image
of each one of the elements. It is possible to establish connections between the different aspects and
changes can be included as the work is developing and circumstances change, since the study of the
tourist activity in the city is a process always in transformation. This methodology is specially
interesting in the field of urban heritage management, because it allows a direct way of opinion and
civil participation in the taking of decisions and it is useful at the moment of establishing priorities on
which heritage should be preserved or offered as a tourist resource.
Bibliographical References
[1] ARNO, Peters. La nueva cartografía. Barcelona: Vicens Vives, 1991. ISBN 978-84-316-2930-4.
[2] ASHWORTH, Gregory; TUNBRIDGE, John. The tourist-historic city. Retrospect and prospect of
managing the heritage city. Oxford: Elsevier Science, 2000. ISBN 0080436757
[3] BRITO, Marcelo. Ciudades históricas como destinos patrimoniales. Una mirada comparada:
España y Brasil. Sevilla: Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Cultura, 1998. ISBN 978-84-935859-7-6.
[4] DE LA CALLE VAQUERO, Manuel. La ciudad histórica como destino turístico. Barcelona: Ariel,
2006. ISBN 9788434467989.
[5] GALÍ ESPELT, Núria. Mirades turístiques a la ciutat. Anàlisi del comportament dels visitants del
barri vell de Girona. Gerona: Universitat de Girona, 2005. ISBN 84-689-1334-0.
[6] TROITIÑO VINUESA, Miguel Ángel. Ciudades patrimonio de la humanidad: patrimonio, turismo y
recuperación urbana. Sevilla: Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, 2009. ISBN 978-84-7993-071-
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[7] Espacio Red de Práctica y Culturas Digitales (International University of Andalusia):
http://practicasdigitales.unia.es.
[8] Cartac: https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/2601/cartac.
[9] Meipi project: What Maps Don’t Show. http://www.meipi.org/loquemalaganocuenta.
[10] Meipi project: Malagaturismo. http://www.meipi.org/malagaturismo.
[11] Workshop video: What Maps Don’t Show: http://vimeo.com/16885244.
[12] Meipi tutorial: http://vimeo.com/16922028.
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