2013 Volume 78 Issue 686 Pages 807-816
This paper constitutes the second part of a cross-cultural study on public space in Alicante, Spain. As in other touristic cities, many places in Alicante are polarised between those catering for visitors and those catering for locals. This polarisation often provokes a loss of place identity and a decline in urban quality for locals. This study identifies specific public spaces and the reasons why some are preferred by locals, by Japanese visitors, or by both through cross-cultural group discussions using affinity diagrams as a participatory method. It was found that in many cases when both locals and Japanese preferred the same place, it was for different reasons. This suggests that a way of sharing places by locals and visitors in touristic cities may consist of nurturing enough diversity so as to enable different qualities that can respond to the preferences of different people, including preferences as different as those of the Japanese and Spaniards.
