This contribution focuses on the proposal for a regulation of short-term rentals sponsored by the national campaign Alta Tensione Abitativa (ATA), which started in 2021 in Venice and has gained widespread support throughout the country and levels of government. Starting from the reconstruction of the social activism dynamics through which the proposal has been concretely elaborated and publicized, we expose its principles and regulatory framework. Legal provisions and local policies adopted after the proposal was drafted are then analyzed, highlighting the urgent necessity for a coherent and systematic regulation of a sector which heavily and increasingly affects housing affordability and availability. Despite its Italian focus, the ATA campaign (and this contribution) also illustrates the European dimension of grassroots mobilization against overtourism and the housing crisis.

Urban transformation is crucial for ensuring livable cities. The Development Plan for Public Space in Vienna-Neubau and Vienna-Josefstadt aims to create climate-resilient and socially just urban spaces, balancing the needs of residents and visitors alike.

City tourism plays a key role in this transformation. In Vienna-Neubau, guest overnight stays doubled between 2007 and 2019, accompanied by a sharp rise in AirBnB rentals. This impacts public space through increased commercial activities, such as outdoor seating areas and kiosks, as well as a shift in ground-floor usage towards gastronomy. These developments often lead to conflicts with local residents, who experience noise pollution and a loss of non-commercial public spaces.

A critical issue is the displacement of accessible, consumption-free urban spaces. Marginalized groups, including homeless individuals, face increasing exclusion as public spaces become more commercialized. Simultaneously, the expansion of AirBnB reduces available housing, pushing local residents out of the district.

In response, the key question is how to develop tourism that is compatible with urban life. The development plan identifies Vienna’s Gebrauchsabgabengesetz as a crucial governance tool for regulating public space access and use. Through strategic policies, the city aims to balance tourism-driven transformations with the rights and needs of its residents.

In this paper, I contextualize the challenge of identity in the revival of the walled district of Intramuros in the Philippines’ capital of Manila, arguing the tensions of self and place and a possible reconciliation in the Pasig River’s reappreciation. Intramuros used to be equated with the City of Manila, yet with the American occupation’s new urban design, followed by the entire city’s nearly complete destruction during the Second World War, Intramuros was eventually relegated to its current informal recognition as a special district within the country’s capital. I attempt to contextualize Intramuros’ ongoing as part of tourism’s impact and the altered identity this leaves a Manileño/Manileña, who previously was a person identified to Intramuros’ entire lifeworld. Drawing from the ideas of Peter Sloterdijk, I present tensions between the concepts of self and place that characterize the urban transformation of Intramuros and the city of Manila by extension: a self without a place is seen in the current deterritorialized Manileño/Manileña, while the reconstructed Intramuros is a place without a self. A possible venture forward is found in going beyond this seeming dichotomy; the extramuros reality must be considered better when dealing with the Walled City. I then point to a potential merge between self and place through the ongoing construction of the Pasig River Esplanade that draws attention once more to the centrality of the river in the city’s lifeworld. This paper is divided into three sections, I first present a brief insight into the current developments in Intramuros’ revival followed corresponding tensions emerging via Sloterdijk’s presentation of self and place. I then end with the possibility of bringing together self and place through a renewed attention given to the Pasig River, providing initial directions for Intramuros’ revival in closer connection to the greater urban landscape (and identity) of the entire city of Manila.

This paper ethnographically explores the nocturnal frontier of capitalist urbanization and the contradictions of the night-time economy (NTE), tourism, and leisure industries experienced by residents of a renowned bar street in a post-Soviet metropolis. Building on the idea that residential displacement, spurred by various capitalist practices, can manifest indirectly, this paper introduces the concept of ‘splintering displacement’. This phenomenon is evident in spaces of the urban post-industrial economy, socially produced by fragmented actors (e.g., nightlife clusters and tourist areas), and emerges in contexts where property structures do not inherently lead to gentrification, compelling residents to adapt rather than leave their homes, as seen in many post-socialist contexts.

The concept of ‘splintering displacement’ implies a more nuanced ethnographic approach to urban analysis to capture the complex dynamics of everyday displacement processes. Taking Rubinstein Street in the center of St. Petersburg as a case study and building on extensive ethnography, the paper examines how the NTE drives ‘splintering displacement’, affecting residents on multiple levels: (1) Neighborhood retail transformation: the loss of valuable places and emotional disconnection; (2) Imposition of a particular order of interaction in public space, characterized by hyperesthesia, excessive contact, and un-civil attention; (3) Infrastructural decay and intrusion into private spaces (domestic areas and apartments) via material mediation of historical built environment, the quality of materials, and the infrastructural connectivity. (4) Disruption of conventional daily rhythms: the NTE reshapes residential daily rhythms, blurring traditional distinctions between work and rest, day and night, while still allowing for necessary periods of urban economic regeneration.

By developing the concept of ‘splintering displacement’, this paper contributes to discussions on late capitalist urbanization (particularly the NTE and tourism) and urban livability, highlighting how certain norms of everyday life are imposed in contexts where property structures do not necessarily produce gentrification and where residents have to adapt and experience the pressures of displacement every day.