Mobilising for the diffuse market-town hotel

This chapter examines the pivotal relations involved in the processes of place making. In the small market town, Rødby, Denmark, the current main street presents with empty shops, but a network of local associations, citizens and entrepreneurial architects propose to redesign this space into a – diffuse – Market Town Hotel (Købstadshotel). It is a particular kind of place management, coping with mobilities crosscutting the periphery by building a tourist destination. Meanwhile, the entrepreneurial network is also mobile, connecting multiple forces.

The research is based on participant observation as well as direct participation at public meetings and in project meetings. Theoretically, the first inspiration comes from relational approaches in economic geography and economic sociology, leading to the nexus between reciprocity, association and market applied in the analysis. The second inspiration comes from tourism studies associated with the mobility paradigm, in addition to studies of the Italian Albergo Diffuso. It is concluded that the combination of multiple professional and voluntary forces, along with some very passionate entrepreneurs, have been vital in mobilising the innovation process, but so far potential tourist visitors have not played any role. This study offers an approach, which is capable of conceptualising the present emergence of citizen-driven tourism, central in many cases of place management.