A recent article in Dutch newspaper het Parool examined the renaissance of Dutch food in Amsterdam. A few years ago it seemed that pizza was the main form of Dutch cuisine, at least based on the number of restaurants. But now some establishments are switching from pizza to ‘Dutch food’, which I Amsterdam argues is a ‘cultural wonder’: So what is Dutch food exactly? Generally speaking, it’s simple and hearty with meat stews, soups, fish, seafood and frietjes (fries) featuring

The latest EasyJet in-flight magazine has an article about Lisbon as “Capital of Cool”. It praises the “friendly neighbourhoods where fado fills the streets and independent shops and bars thrive.” It is certainly true that there is plenty of fado music these days. A recent article by Iñigo Sánchez-Fuarros , Daniel Malet Calvo , Daniel Paiva & Jordi Nofre in Tourism Geographies shows that in the central neighbourhood of Alfama, fado venues increased 9-fold between 2012 and 20

Walking through the Eixample in the centre of Barcelona one encounters an interesting exercise in bottom-up critique of urban speculation and touristification. A series of posters erected at the bottom of Passeig Sant Joan by the Associació de Veïns i Veïnes de la Dreta de Eixample - (Residents Association of the Right of the Eixample) provides a stark example of the effects of speculation and tourist pressure in the centre of Barcelona. Density of tourist beds in the Eixamp

Not so long ago, it seemed that every city wanted a Guggenheim Museum. The success of the Bilbao franchise of the New York museum chain in attracting a million visitors in its first year of operation in the previously unfashionable Basque city, was a feat everybody wanted to emulate. At one point, 60 cities were apparently on an unofficial waiting list to get their Guggenheim clone. The first cracks in the museum franchise model began to appear in 2012, when Helsinki decided

Increased interest in the Quality of Life offered by cities and other places has focussed more attention on the role played by the...

In 2023 Amsterdam made waves as the first city to embrace the Doughnut economy model developed by British economist Kate Raworth. Time...

Vending machines apparently have a long history: the first was allegedly constructed by Heron of Alexandria in about 100 BC. Heron was an...

Residents and visitors in Amsterdam are used to seeing long queues for leading attractions in the city, such as the Anne Frank House or...

The Tate Modern art museum in London is one of the world’s most popular cultural tourism attractions, with 5.5 million visits a year. The...

A recent article in the Guardian describes how residents of São Paulo turned an elevated roadway into a spot for sunbathing and other...

Many of us will be spending another restricted Christmas trying not to infect friends and family with Covid. But in spite of the looming...

Covid-19 is fast moving and unpredictable, which means that investing fixed locations with heavy overheads is an increasingly risky...