This piece critically examines the thematization of cities in the age of global tourism and cultural commodification. Using Madrid as a reference, the article analyzes how urban spaces are increasingly shaped by narrative homogenization, driven by tourist markets, event planning, and spectacular aesthetics. These logics produce sanitized and market-friendly urban experiences, erasing local complexity, resistance, and marginal voices. However, the author also identifies a series of counter-hegemonic practices—often led by cultural collectives and neighborhood alliances—that reclaim public space through temporary occupations, performances, and spatial interventions. Drawing on theories of urban spectacle, post-Fordist capitalism, and cultural resistance, the text argues for a radical reinterpretation of urban thematization not as cultural programming but as a political battleground, where alternative imaginaries and dissident uses of space can emerge. These practices resist the narrative fixity imposed by branding and suggest a more dynamic, inclusive vision of urban identity.
Sánchez, A. (2015) ‘Turismo, tematización de la ciudad y urbanismo contrahegemónico’, URBS. Revista de Estudios Urbanos y Ciencias Sociales, 5(2), pp. 245–254.
