“Creative” uses of heritage in the age of experiential tourism: The case of Tianjin’s former international concessions

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, heritage reuse for cultural purposes has become a widespread phenomenon in major Chinese cities. Heritage-led projects aim to foster the development of new urban functions, transforming historical spaces into magnets for leisure and tourism. These government-led projects often attract local entrepreneurs, who capitalize on heritage settings as a breeding ground for new activities, such as design galleries, art and craft stores, cafés, gourmet restaurants, and microbreweries. Tianjin, a city 120 km south of Beijing, has embraced this trend by implementing ambitious projects to preserve and enhance its former Western concessions (19^th – 20^th centuries). While the “creative” use of heritage is a common feature of both Western and Chinese cities, Tianjin presents a particularly compelling case due to the dissonant nature of its former concession heritage. This article analyzes the relationship between creative (re)uses of heritage and cultural tourism in Tianjin’s former Western concessions. Specifically, it questions the influence of the re-functionalization of historical buildings in the former concessions, mainly for leisure and tourism purposes, on their recognition as heritage. To address this, the study draws on four case studies in Tianjin’s former Western concessions, employing qualitative data collected through participatory and non-participatory observations, thematic analysis of institutional documents, and semi-structured interviews with officials and local stakeholders. The findings highlight how creative uses of heritage could enhance tourism experiences and contribute to economic and cultural revitalization. These practices might foster a deeper engagement with the past while supporting sustainable tourism development.

Keywords

Creative use / Dissonant heritage / Experiential tourism / Concession / Tianjin / China

Acknowledgments

None.

Funding

Part of this research was funded by the French Agency for Research in the framework of the project PATRIMONDI: “The challenges of “heritage globalization” or the tourist production of cultural heritage in a globalized world: global models, identity recompositions, hybridizations” (ANR-15-CE27-0010).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: All authors Formal analysis: All authors Investigation: All authors Methodology: All authors Writing – original draft: All authors Writing – review & editing: All authors

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Permission to conduct the interviews for the purposes of this research was obtained from all respondents, who were fully informed about the purposes of this research and how their responses would be used and stored. All interviewees have been anonymized.

Consent for publication

Informed consent of participants/interviewees was obtained for publishing their data/interviews in this paper.

Availability of data

Data used in this work can be made available to readers upon request. Interested parties can contact the corresponding author for access to the data sets or supplementary materials used in the study.

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