Public space and identity in the coastal tourist city, Puerto Vallarta-Bay of Banderas, Mexico case

Abstract

This article discusses four factors or senses, a sense of recognition, a sense of belonging. a sense of permanence and a sense  of ownership, (Tamayo y Wildner, 2005), which related to public space, make up the urban identity of the inhabitants of the neighborhoods and suburbs of the tourist city known today as metropolitan area tourist Puerto Vallarta-Bahia de Banderas and picks up the value of the quality of public space. In recent years, the hand of new economic processes, political and cultural, in many cities specifically in the tourist, there have been changes in physiognomy and population structure, activities, and with this certain images and perceptions have tended to disappear at the same time that emerge new ones.

The public space allocated to the areas of encounter, in many cases of the colonies and neighborhoods studied have lost the sense of identity on the part of the inhabitants, is therefore a space that it is no longer considered as a place. These sites lead to neglect and the waste of the physical space in the context where they are placed, generating a negative perception on the part of the neighbors and visitors to these spaces, at the same time is converted to spaces that citizenship degraded prevented and treated to remove from their urban imagination. Given this scenario, the present work attempts to elucidate to which forwards this urban identity, understanding that the question of the genesis of this kind of identity is an obligatory step prior to then be able to analyze the speeches about his mutation or disappearance.