Urbani izziv, volume 28, no. 1, 2017
157Reviews and information
Daniel Barrera-Fernández
Tourist activities in historic cities:  
Opportunities and challenges (reflections on the 
book Attracting visitors to ancient neighbourhoods. 
Creation and management of the tourist-historic  
city of Plymouth, UK)
Title: Attracting visitors to ancient neighbourhoods. Creation and 
management of the tourist-historic city of Plymouth, UK
Author: Daniel Barrera-Fernández
Publisher: InPlanning
Place and year of publication: Groningen, 2016
Number of pages: 289
[ISBN: 978-94-91937-19-4]
Many cities worldwide have developed 
strategies to become more attractive for 
cultural tourists. This trend is particu-
larly relevant in Europe, where many 
traditional urban activities have been 
moved to the suburbs or even relocated 
to regions with lower labour costs. As a 
result, the historic centres of many cit-
ies suffered from decay and neglect un-
til tourism-related activities were seen 
as an alternative to regenerating them. 
This is a complex process with positive 
and negative consequences. On the one 
hand, tourism brings new life to historic 
buildings and spaces, and many herit-
age assets are restored. On the other 
hand, those buildings that do not fulfil 
the requirements and expectations of 
visitors may be subject to demolition 
or severe transformations that lead to 
the loss of their heritage value. Social 
consequences should also be taken into 
account because when tourism becomes 
successful enough it can lead to gentri-
fication and replacement of existing ac-
tivities and land uses.
The book Attracting visitors to ancient 
neighbourhoods. Creation and manage-
ment of the tourist-historic city of Plym-
outh, UK (Barrera-Fernández, 2016) 
deals with these aspects applied to the 
city of Plymouth in southwest England. 
The foreword was written by Kevin Mee-
than, a renowned expert in the field and 
in the processes that have transformed 
Plymouth in recent decades. The re-
search is first developed from a general 
perspective on the context and progres-
sively moved to an analysis of the city 
and of particular initiatives. Thus, the 
first objective is to analyse the specific 
framework of heritage preservation and 
management in the United Kingdom. 
After that, it focuses on Plymouth, with 
the objective of studying how heritage 
protection evolved and what the current 
framework is in relation to legislation 
and the role of the authorities involved. 
The next objective is to study the his-
torical evolution of urban tourism and 
the current relevance of tourism-related 
activities. Finally, the interaction of vari-
ous stakeholders and selected initiatives 
are analysed regarding tourism-related 
use of the historic city, dividing these 
into four aspects: heritage and cul-
ture, tourism, urban planning and the 
economy.
The first difficult decision was to se-
lect the case study. Plymouth and the 
United Kingdom were chosen for 
several reasons. In that country, visits 
to cities are growing at a higher rate 
than to other destinations. Moreover, 
more than half of the tourists visiting 
the United Kingdom have history and 
culture as their main motivation, and 
most of the visitors to English historic 
places go to historic cities. Plymouth 
is a medium-sized multifunctional city 
with regional relevance, peripheral in 
relation to London. It is located in the 
most frequently visited region of the 
country by British citizens and in one of 
the regions most often visited by tour-
ists from abroad. The city has a tradition 
in the tourism industry that has been 
well documented since the nineteenth 
century. In recent years, the main inter-
est has been in increasing attractions re-
lated to heritage and history, especially 
focusing on the historical connections 
of the city with transoceanic voyages 
of discovery and conquest. Plymouth 
has also linked tourism strategies with 
the development of a new image of an 
open and cosmopolitan city, with the 
aim of hosting major events with large 
international coverage.
Urbani izziv, volume 28, no. 1, 2017
158 Reviews and information
The work applies a number of research 
methods. The structure of the research 
is based on the approach to the concept 
of the “tourist-historic city” developed 
by Marcelo Brito (2009). The concept 
of the tourist-historic city (Ashworth 
& Tunbridge, 2000) is central in the 
research because it defines historic ur-
ban areas with intense tourism activity. 
The research includes an analysis of the 
historic city as a heritage asset, a study 
of the urban cultural tourism phenom-
enon and work on the definition and 
management of the tourist-historic city. 
To achieve these goals, the work was di-
vided into the following steps: 1) pres-
entation of the evolution and current 
framework of heritage preservation, 
focusing on heritage regulations, urban 
plans (that include heritage-related pol-
icies), statutory lists and local manage-
ment tools; 2) analysis of the history of 
tourism and the current model through 
a selection of historical and current 
guidebooks, information presented to 
visitors, tourism strategies, urban plans 
(that include tourism-related policies) 
and fieldwork to reflect the physical 
distribution of tourist attractions and 
services; and 3)  study of actors and 
initiatives affecting tourist use of the 
historic city in relation to culture and 
heritage, tourism, urban planning and 
economic development. As an innova-
tion, the book introduces an economic 
dimension to the main policies because 
it is necessary to ensure the sustainabil-
ity of the model and it is closely related 
to other policies.
The book has six chapters. The first 
one introduces the research, objectives, 
main questions and methodology. The 
second chapter presents recent research 
on the conceptualisation of the historic 
city in Europe, the evolution of the her-
itage values that are considered in these 
areas and current trends in their tour-
ist use. The third chapter introduces the 
city of Plymouth for those not familiar 
with it; it includes the relevance of the 
sea in Plymouth’s urban history and 
present, the role of military forces and 
their current relevance, local govern-
ment and socio-economic information, 
a short history of the city from its ori-
gins to the present and a presentation 
of the study area. The fourth chapter 
focuses on the evolution and current 
framework of heritage protection in 
Plymouth. The evolution covers six 
stages; namely, the situation before the 
second world war, the impact of the 
war, plans for reconstruction, the ap-
plication of those plans, regeneration 
initiatives and the new role of com-
munities. Two sections are dedicated 
to relevant topics: selected post-war 
interventions in the main monuments 
and the achievements of the Plymouth 
Barbican trust. The current framework 
of heritage preservation analyses in de-
tail conservation areas, listed buildings, 
buildings at risk and evolution of listing 
criteria. The cases of the Barbican and 
the city centre are given special atten-
tion due to their relevance as the first 
designated conservation area in the first 
case and as a current debate in the sec-
ond case. The fifth chapter is devoted 
to the history and present relevance of 
tourism activities in Plymouth’s historic 
city. It covers four stages; namely, the 
pre-war model, the impact of the war, 
the search for new markets and recent 
changes in the authorities involved. 
A special section is dedicated to the 
achievements of the Plymouth market-
ing bureau and another section includes 
a study of the evolution of tourist sites 
referred to in guidebooks. The current 
model of tourism management is pre-
sented through an analysis of visitors’ 
profiles and economic impact, mobil-
ity and the main tourism resources and 
services. The sixth chapter covers the 
actors and initiatives involved in man-
aging the tourist-historic city. They are 
divided into the four groups of policies 
mentioned above; namely, culture and 
heritage, tourism, urban planning and 
economic development.
One of the most interesting contribu-
tions of the research is the evaluation 
of the reconstruction of the city after 
the second world war by the Plan for 
Plymouth, designed by Sir Patrick Ab-
ercrombie and James Paton Watson. It 
contributed to the demolition of rele-
vant historic buildings that survived the 
bombings in the city’s central area, but 
it also helped create a new architectural 
heritage, which has only recently begun 
to be listed. The central urban area and 
all buildings interfering with the new 
layout were replaced, and the emotional 
references of citizens were lost. Imple-
mentation of the plan was not as effec-
tive as expected, and the post-war city 
centre is physically isolated from the rest 
of the city, lacking vitality when shops 
close. Nevertheless, the city centre is the 
most complete and least transformed 
post-war planning example in Britain, 
with relevant examples of buildings 
from the  1950s, where leading archi-
tects, artists and sculptors collaborated 
to make it an exceptional example of 
urban planning of the time.
Another relevant contribution of the 
book is the presentation of the achieve-
ments of the Plymouth marketing bu-
reau, the first public-private tourism 
promotion agency in the UK. It suc-
ceeded in developing business tour-
ism and creating new attractions and 
events. Thus, between the  1970s and 
early  1990s, some of the main current 
attractions were opened. Apart from 
that, the study of the sites referred to 
in guidebooks is a useful tool for un-
derstanding the evolution of places of 
interest and attractions. It is relevant 
how the trends and fashions of each 
moment contributed to modifying the 
tourist profiles.
In relation to management of the 
tourist-historic city, the role of non-
profit organisations in public policy is 
particularly relevant, especially if one 
compares this model with the lack of 
citizens’ involvement in other countries. 
Urbani izziv, volume 28, no. 1, 2017
159Reviews and information
The so-called third sector has an advi-
sory role when applying for permission 
to intervene in a heritage asset. It also 
participates in plans related to heritage 
preservation and enhancement, and it 
has the ability to lobby against projects 
negatively affecting built heritage or the 
local character of historic areas.
One of the strongest points of this book 
is the presentation of the impact of vari-
ous policies that are apparently isolated 
in the management of the tourist-his-
toric city. Urban planning policies such 
as traffic and waste management influ-
ence visitors’ experience in the destina-
tion. Tourism strategies risk remaining 
undeveloped if economic plans do not 
include funding for promoting or creat-
ing new attractions. In fact, the lack of 
coordination between stakeholders can 
cause various damage, such as heritage 
loss, neglect of urban areas and lack 
of tourism competitiveness. Should 
society preserve a neighbourhood and 
restore historic buildings, or should it 
give way to tourism-related initiatives 
regardless of their impact on heritage? 
The case of Plymouth shows a history 
of success and difficulties, and thus it 
may be of interest to cities involved in 
the same discussions.
Daniel Barrera-Fernández 
Faculty of Architecture of Benito Juárez, 
Autonomous University of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, 
Mexico 
E-mail: dbarrera.arqcu@uabjo.mx
References
Ashworth, G. J. & Tunbridge, J. E. (2000) The 
tourist-historic city. Retrospect and the prospect 
of managing the heritage city. Oxford, Perga-
mon.
Barrera-Fernández, D. (2016) Attracting visitors 
to ancient neighbourhoods. Creation and man-
agement of the tourist-historic city of Plymouth, 
UK. Groningen, InPlanning.
Brito, M. (2009) Ciudades históricas como des-
tinos patrimoniales. Una mirada comparada: 
España y Brasil. Seville, Andalusian Govern-
ment, Ministry of Culture.
Biography
Daniel Barrera-Fernández has a degree in 
architecture from the University of Seville 
and a doctorate from the University of 
Malaga, where he received the university’s 
Extraordinary award for his dissertation. 
He is currently a professor and researcher 
at the Faculty of architecture of Benito 
Juárez, Autonomous university of Oaxaca, 
where he teaches urban planning and her-
itage preservation. His research interests 
focus on the preservation and integration 
of built heritage, cultural policy, urban tour-
ism, city marketing, theming, the impact of 
cultural events, regeneration of run-down 
neighbourhoods and gentrification.
Information
The book’s internet site:
http://www.inplanning.eu/ 
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