ABSTRACT
Although of major significance for urban branding and tourism, cultural quarters have become highly contested as a consequence of debates around issues of commodification, identity, homogenisation, gentrification and regeneration (McCarthy 2005). Cultural quarters should therefore be conceptualised within the framework of the development and promotion of distinct social and spatial areas (Bell and Jayne 2004; Evans 2004; McCarthy 2005; Hall 2008a). This chapter examines the significance of urban regeneration for tourism and highlights the relationship between regeneration and the cultural economy. This chapter notes the role of both material (hardware) and immaterial (software) aspects of cultural quarter development but concludes by noting that the distinction of different cultural quarters is increasingly being lost as a result of serial replication.
