Social imaginaries and authenticity: architectural representations of mexican culture in the new tourist cities

Abstract

The architecture intended to tourism seeks to offer innovative proposals giving added value to visitors, beyond the hotel services or the natural, historical or cultural attractions that the place itself offers. In this pursuit has been generated from traditional to the latest lifestyle or extravagant architectural proposals. However, several questions arise in this regard, for example the belonging of the tourist building to the site where it is located, in the quest to provide innovative products for the tourism business when is often used to return to past architectural formulas or using landmarks unrelated to the context. This paper attempts to interpret those typologies that such possible and meaningful practices make in the social imaginary. As empirical analysis of tourist sites, has been made ​​an approach to the city of Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. The study is supported on proposals of Mexican architecture, taking into account the cultural heritage as a legacy of authenticity, for the creation of new tourism sites, linked to the categories of social imaginaries and authenticity. The qualitative method is based on urban imaginaries research, using tools such as interviews, questionnaires and exercises to understand the perception of the social actors involved in tourism development in the case study. Among the research findings, is concluded the creation of unoriginal type products that contribute to the homogenization of urban space, transforming localities, to find its theming and its projection for tourist consumption.