This is a Blog about aspects of places and authenticity. It reflects the book which I wrote with Dr Chris Bull: Authentic and Inauthentic Places in Tourism: From Heritage Sites to Theme Parks. I write on light installations, heritage, hyperreality, hipsterisation, magical spaces and fantasy gazes.

I teach, research and write about authenticity, creative destinations, space and place, film locations, heritage sites, urban gentrification, light shows, creative spaces.

My PhD explored staged authenticity, experiences and heritage in the built environment. One of the paradoxes of modern mobility is that, to paraphrase The Talking Heads, places are always in motion. We never really reach the place we seek; its aura is always moving further away and somehow, even when we are there, the “real” place is equidistant.

My opinions are my own.