Addressing dereliction and devaluation in urban tourism: the case of Cork, Ireland

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on increasingly entrepreneurial approaches to urban governance in the country’s second city Cork, where neoliberal strategy has driven uneven spatial development.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper combines insights from literature review with new knowledge derived from interviews with key informants in the city.

Findings

Post-colonial themes provoke a consideration of how uneven power dynamics stifle social innovation in the built environment.

Research limitations/implications

Assembled narratives expose opaque aspects of governance, ownership and participation, presenting opportunities for rethinking urban vacancy through placemaking.

Practical implications

These draw on nuanced models for tourism as a platform for a broader discourse on rights to the city.

Social implications

A century after independence, Ireland is recast as a leading small European economy, away from historical framings of a rural economic backwater of the British Empire.

Originality/value

The model of success is based on a basket of targeted investment policies and somewhat dubious indicators for growth.

Citation

Horgan, D. and Baum, T. (2023), "Addressing dereliction and devaluation in urban tourism: the case of Cork, Ireland", International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 70-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-07-2021-0152