The mutual shaping of geomedia and gentrification

The case of alternative tourism apps

Bibliographic Data

ID13019697
AuthorsA Jansson (0000-0002-6121-645X, Karlstad University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume4
Issue2
Pages166-181
Publication date2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunication and the Public (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2057-0473 • E-ISSN: 2057-0481
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/2057047319850197
OpenAlexW2952993036
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited63

While the ‘media city’ has gained academic attention for over a decade, the role of the media in urban gentrification processes has been an overlooked issue. Due to the rapid expansion of geomedia technologies, for example, app-based social media and location-based services on mobile platforms, there is a growing need to address this area from a critical perspective. The article develops and tries out an analytical framework for studying the mutual shaping of geomedia technologies and gentrification processes, using alternative tourism apps as its illustration. The middle-class biased appearance of such mobile apps is hypothesized as an articulation of a broader trend, through which geomedia recognizes and gains affordances that fit the ambitions of certain social groups and their spatial norms, preferences and practices. The framework comprises two steps: (1) a media-technological unpacking exercise inspired by affordance theory and (2) a critical consideration of how geomedia play into the distribution of spatial capital in the city. The first step outlines how representational, logistical and communicational affordances of alternative tourism apps represent the broader shift from mass media to geomedia. The second step discusses the social logics whereby alternative tourism apps are adapted to middle-class spatial interests, and thus to gentrification, and how geomedia technologies in general affect the ability of different groups to access, appropriate and define different places and neighbourhoods in the city

Affordance · Civil engineering · Gentrification · Human–computer interaction · Political science · Social media · Sociology · Tourism · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · Engineering · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Sharing Economy and Platforms