Making the city uninhabitable. The impacts of touristification on the commercial environment

This article examines touristification's impact on the commercial environment of urban centres, specifically on the reorientation of this environment towards the interests of visitors to the detriment of those of locals. It introduces and tests a new methodology for measuring tourism-related commercial transformations, using Seville (Andalusia, Spain) as a case study. This methodology classifies commercial activities based on their greater or lesser connection to tourist consumption and it uses Google Street View to learn about the commercial environment of previous periods (2008 and 2019, in this research) as points of comparison to the current situation (2023). The results show the growing functional specialisation of tourist activities align with a broader trend observed in European historical centres, which are gradually becoming monocultural tourist destinations. The article's main contribution is a novel methodology that is replicable in other historical cities undergoing touristification. • Commercial touristification replaces local businesses with tourist-focused establishments. • Street View confirms its utility for diachronic studies of commercial changes. • 66 % of establishments altered their commercial orientation in just 15 years (2008–2023). • Functional specialisation of the historical centres in the food and beverage activity. • Aesthetisation, elitisation, volatility and loss of diversity as trends in retail changes.