Rhythms of urban injustice: a spatial reimagining of marketing in tourist cities

This paper challenges dominant paradigms of place marketing by foregrounding its role in the production of spatial injustice in urban consumption spectacles. Drawing on rhythmanalysis and spatial injustice, we conceptualize tourism-driven place marketing as a form of spatial production privileging spectacle, circulation, and visibility – often at the expense of everyday life. Based on ethnographic research in Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Barcelona (2019–2021), we identify three tensions – clashing, inverting, and intrusive rhythms – that structure residents' experiences of tourism. These rhythms are not merely disruptions but manifestations of spatial injustice and embodied forms of resistance to commodification. We introduce decommodification as a normative principle challenging dominant marketing logics and calling for more justice-oriented practices. By engaging with urban rhythms, place marketers can support collective rights to space and enable more just modes of inhabitation.