The ghost city: chronicles of the apocalypse after COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose The present conceptual paper evinces a new understanding of the present and future of the tourist city in a post-COVID-19 world. The pandemic has wreaked havoc in the tourism industry as well as global trade. The world, at least as we know, is debating the next recovery steps for 2023. Design/methodology/approach In this conceptual paper, the authors explore the substantial shifts faced by the urban areas during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. The disposed [and imposed] restrictive measures have affected negatively not only mobilities but also the urban landscape. The tourist-city, at least as it was imagined by J. Urry, has invariably set the pace to a ghost-city. In this new landscape, citizens are confined to be at home. Findings The tourist city has faced substantial changes. The authors dubbed the term ghost city to give some reflections on the radical changes urban zones are experiencing during 2020 and 2021. Classic notions as “the Other,” “globalization” and the “city” are in motion. The borders of some nations are being re-drawn while some radicalized voices and movements flourish. Research limitations/implications The authors introduce readers to the literature about the tourist city, which offers a perfect landscape for attraction, consumption and protest. The tourist city has been developed by scholars as a sign of a globalizing process that laid the foundations toward a new understanding of urban zones. Practical implications The present paper discusses critically the problem of COVID-19 and its severe restriction of free circulation and the forms in which the city is lived and dwelled. We were pressed to live our proximity through the lens of a screen or using digital media. The basic rights that are historically characterized by the legal architecture of the nation-state – which is based on high mobilities and the right of traveling – were suddenly suspended. Originality/value The authors deal with the problems of sociology to study the ghost city, which include not only the dilemmas revolving around the health passport but also the introduction of technology in formalizing the creation of a surveillance society that scrutinizes and, at the same time, entertains modern citizens, in a new culture where the “Other” becomes an undesired guest.