A critical analysis of the impacts of gentrification on the cultural and socioeconomic sustainability of La Candelaria

Abstract

The article analyzes tourism gentrification in La Candelaria (Bogotá, Colombia) as a phenomenon that generates economic dynamism and urban revitalization while simultaneously fostering social exclusion and posing a growing threat to the cultural sustainability of the territory. The paper aims to identify these effects within the tourism development of La Candelaria through the implementation of a study based on a qualitative approach. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants distributed across three groups: (i) long-term residents who have lived in the area for more than 10 years, (ii) new residents who have moved in within the last five years, and (iii) traditional business owners who have operated in La Candelaria for more than seven years. The results reveal a silent displacement of traditional residents, the transformation of residential spaces into hostels and restaurants, the elitization of public space in certain sectors, and a general perception of rising prices and the loss of the locality’s traditional culture. Thus, the study highlights that when tourism development is not accompanied by regulatory mechanisms and citizen participation, it can intensify pre-existing inequalities, turning the territory into a space of consumption rather than one of coexistence, collective memory, and the preservation of cultural identity.