Architecture and Tourism Perception, Performance and Place

by Lasansky, D. Medina; McLaren, Brian

• ISBN13: 9781859737095
• ISBN10: 1859737099
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-04
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

The past two centuries have witnessed an increase in the commodification of tourist sites across the world. Everything from historical monuments to exotic holiday destinations has been redesigned and packaged for mass consumption. As a result, the histories of specific sites have been re-conceptualized. Some have been preserved and celebrated, while others have been left to decay. In this process, buildings, cities and entire countries have been remapped by tourism initiatives to serve political, cultural, economic and scholarly goals. Considering these profound transformations, Architecture and Tourism examines the reciprocal relationship between the modern practice of tourism and the built environment. It shows how photography, film and souvenirs have been deployed to help mediate and mythologize specific sites. It also explores how tourist itineraries, behavior and literature are institutionalized for popular consumption in order to support larger cultural objectives. Drawing on case studies in Cuba, Ghana, Greece, France, Italy, Libya, Mauritius, Spain and the United States, Architecture and Tourism explores the touristic experience, representation and meaning of place within distinct cultural contexts. From the former sites of the slave trade on the Ghanaian coast to the urban renewal of Old Havana, from the honeymoon resorts in the Poconos to the postmodern spectacle of Bilbao, from the world's fairs of the 1930s to the colonialist encounters in Italian Libya, each chapter provides a provocative insight into the practice of tourism and the conception of place.

Author Biography

D. Medina Lasansky is Assistant Professor, History of Architecture and Urbanism, Architecture Department, Cornell University. Brian McLaren is Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Washington.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
Notes on Contributors	xi
Foreword
Davydd J. Greenwood	xv
Introduction
D. Medina Lasansky	1	(14)
Part I Defining a Canon and a Mode of Perception
1 Reproduction, Fragmentation, and Collection: Rome and the Origin of Souvenirs
Sarah Benson	15	(22)
2 Early Travelers in Greece and the Invention of Medieval Architectural History
Kostis Kourelis	37	(16)
3 Performing Abroad: British Tourists in Italy and their Practices, 1840-1914
Jill Steward	53	(22)
Part II Politics of Pilgrimage
4 From Tripoli to Ghadames: Architecture and the Tourist Experience of Local Culture in Italian Colonial Libya
Brian McLaren	75	(18)
5 A Pilgrimage to the Alcázar of Toledo: Ritual, Tourism and Propaganda in Franco's Spain
Miriam Basilio	93	(16)
6 Authenticating Dungeons, Whitewashing Castles: The Former Sites of the Slave Trade on the Ghanaian Coast
Cheryl Finley	109	(20)
Part III Packaging Place
7 From Photographic Fragments to Architectural Illusions at the 1929 Poble Espanyol in Barcelona
Jordana Mendelson	129	(18)
8 Simulating France, Seducing the World: The Regional Center at the 1937 Paris Exposition
Deborah D. Hurtt	147	(18)
9 Tourist Geographies: Remapping Old Havana
D. Medina Lasansky	165	(24)
Part IV Performance
10 Sweetening Colonialism: A Mauritian Themed Resort
Tim Edensor and Uma Kothan	189	(18)
11 Doing it Right: Postwar Honeymoon Resorts in the Pocono Mountains
Barbara Penner	207	(20)
Part V The Postmodern Imagination
12 New Politics of the Spectacle: "Bilbao" and the Global Imagination
Joan Ockman	227	(14)
13 Egypt on Steroids: Luxor Las Vegas and Postmodern Orientalism
Jeffrey Cass	241	(24)
Index	265