ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how tourism has historically been a powerful force in shaping Havana's urban expansion, with the exception of the revolutionary period from 1959 to 1990. It outlines how tourism and specific urban policies have contributed to the uneven spatial development of Havana. The chapter provides the importance of tourism in Havana's urban development in the first half of the twentieth century. It examines the anti-urban policy embraced by the revolutionary government after 1959 to curb Havana's growth and its development of tourism. The chapter looks at the re-establishment and redevelopment of tourism in Havana since the introduction of the Special Period. The republican centre, developed between 1902 and the 1930s, hosted the main landmark administrative and government buildings theatres and other leisure facilities. The period between 1902 and 1959 is often referred to as the 'pseudo-republican era', in light of the strong cultural, social and economic influence that the United State of America exerted on Cuba.
