Ricerc@Sapienza

: The primary objective of this paper is to analyze the main characteristics of recent tourism
policies in Rome by describing the local modalities through which the neoliberal approach to urban
strategies has been implemented. The first section highlights some general features of the city of
Rome and its tourism, which are particularly useful for understanding the specificities of neoliberal
tourism policies. The paper then proceeds to describe the most clearly defined neoliberal period of

Although Italian cities have undergone several waves of touristification, concerns about overtourism have only recently become widespread. In the article, we suggest that the diffusion of short-term rental platforms is not merely a concomitant factor, but is crucial to understanding the how and where of contemporary overtourism. To this end we apply a fractal methodology to identify, map and compare those parts of the city that are most affected, and measure the pressure short-term rentals have on city centres as places of residence.

The article investigates how users’ reviews on digital accommodation platforms represent the city and mediate urban tourism practices. Drawing upon research on user-generated contents, digital reputation, platform capitalism, and the spatiality of short-term rentals, the aim is to show the performative power of the reviewing mechanism in enhancing visibility, building trust and distributing value unevenly in the city. We show how such unevenness is constructed through the layering of different meanings conveyed by guests’ reviews, each having its own specific spatiality.

Il contributo pone in relazione le trasformazioni socioeconomiche in corso nello spazio urbano e nelle
culture dell’abitare con gli interessi delle piattaforme digitali, facendo ricorso alla chiave di lettura
critica del platform capitalism. L’osservazione dei processi economici, culturali e politici in campo
sarà condotta a partire dal “caso” Airbnb, proponendo una interpretazione della piattaforma come
nuovo attore politico, capace di entrare nel merito delle scelte di governo della città, attivare la