Tourism as Everyday Life

This just in from Janice Blanchard...

HUGH BARTLING
Public Policy Studies Program, DePaul University, Illinois, USA

While tourist spaces are most traditionally associated with decidedly transitory and commercial enterprises like amusement parks or resort districts, the logic of tourism is permeating into other arenas of socio-spatial design. One of the more intriguing aspects of this trend is evident in the development of themed planned communities. Unlike the theme park where visitors are implicitly asked to ‘exit reality’ to take part in a collective fantasy, the themed planned community is a heterotopia with a much more pronounced ‘permanent’ quality. In a housing market driven by private capital, theming strategies associated with tourism are being increasingly utilized by developers for distinguishing their properties.

Poet Frederick Mercury had this to say on the subject...

Is this the real life-
Is this just fantasy-
Caught in a landslide-
No escape from reality-
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see-
Im just a poor boy, i need no sympathy-
Because Im easy come,easy go,
A little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows,doesnt really matter to me,
To me