The Algorithmic Greenfield: Quantifying Digital Displacement and the Reconfiguration of the Tourist Gaze via Synthetic Control

This paper examines how urban heritage landscapes are reconfiguring structurally due to platform capitalism. It presents the "Algorithmic Greenfield" approach to explore how "Born Digital" mega-monuments use platform-mediated visibility to circumvent standard tourism life cycles and traditional heritage paths. The study uses the Synthetic Control Method (SCM) to create a data-driven counterfactual in order to identify the causal effect of the Statue of Unity (SoU) on tourism flows in the region. The study combines digital trace data (SVI) with this causal inference method to map the role of the "Algorithmic Gaze" in the modern tourism city as a macro-level steering agent. The research reveals that high-profile digital interventions create an "Algorithmic Premium"—a causal visitor surplus that transcends macroeconomic cycles. Moreover, it identifies "Digital Displacement," whereby algorithmic priorities redirect attention capital away from legacy heritage, rendering "Born Physical" locations digitally invisible. The study adds to the growing body of literature on the "uberization" of urban tourism space. It offers a robust, evidence-based model for city planners and destination managers to measure digitally-led city restructuring and reduce the systemic risks of displacement within the tourism city system.