Living like a local

Peer-to-peer accommodation platforms, like Airbnb, contribute to increasing tourist–resident encounters in residential neighbourhoods and the blurring of boundaries between ‘tourists’ and ‘residents’. This boundary blurring has been recognised in new urban tourism studies but how this process actually plays out through everyday neighbourhood encounters from the perspective of tourists requires examination. Focusing on Amsterdam, this chapter explores how Airbnb users practise and experience boundary blurring between ‘tourists’ and ‘residents’. To achieve this, we apply a novel lens to new urban tourism by focusing on multidimensional familiarisation processes in residential neighbourhoods. Founded on the discussion of ‘living like a local’, two key aspects of boundary blurring are explored: first, the blurring between tourists and residents in the sense of the participation in ‘local life’ through the performance of activities in particular neighbourhood spaces; and second, between insiders and outsiders through experiences of belonging and feeling at home in the neighbourhood. Examining neighbourhood encounters through the lens of familiarisation processes has foregrounded diverse aspects of dynamic and relational boundary blurring with specificity for private (Airbnb accommodation), semi-public (supermarkets, local shops, restaurants and bars) and public (streets) contact zones in residential neighbourhoods.