How Airbnb markets black-majority neighbourhoods

Brooklyn, New York - Airbnb attracts increasing numbers of tourists to neighbourhoods where the traditional hotel industry is limited or absent. This popularity of 'real urban' experiences in 'off-the-beaten-track' areas has impact on the rental markets and social structures, but also on how these neighbourhoods get framed. UvA researchers looked at the framing of black-majority neighbourhoods in New York City and found a new form of 'colonial discourse'. Urban geographers Petter Törnberg and Letizia Chiappini studied how white and black hosts market black-majority neighbourhoods in New York City on Airbnb. They found that white entrepreneurs attract guests through a form of 'colonial discourse': exoticizing difference, emphasizing foreignness, and presenting communities as experiences for outside groups to consume. White visitors, in turn, describe their touristic visits to these areas as 'brave' and 'adventurous' explorations of 'uncharted territories'. Consuming 'the real urban experience' .