The Street Trade as Part of the Tourist Attraction: The Cases of Barcelona and Mexico City

Abstract

The social imaginary is a symbolic element that operates in the life of man and reconfigures itself in the encounter with the other, thinking and meaning the inhabited places. This article supports the idea that commerce on public roads, in addition to being an alternative to unemployment, has turned out to be part of the tourist attraction of large cities, considering the existence of various devices that build social imaginaries that recreate interesting scenarios where perceives the informal vendor as a tourist attraction. To do this, at first the theoretical categories of imaginary are presented using Gilbert Durand (2000) and Cornelius Castoriadis (2013). The case studies are addressed below: the streets of the Historic Center of Mexico City and the boulevards in Barcelona. Thirdly, the final reflections are presented, emphasizing the idea of the construction of the social imaginary in tourist centers because of the so-called urban folk. The research methodology was based on a combination of different techniques from classical field work and the application of virtual tools derived from ethnography.