Shifting discourses in the struggle over holiday rentals

This article examines the shifting discourses at play in the unfolding socio-legal conflict around holiday or short-term rentals (STRs). Focusing comparatively on Barcelona and Edinburgh, it carries out an integrated analysis of social mobilisation by activists and lobby groups, reforms by local authorities and parliaments and judicial interventions, in order to (1) trace the emergence of restrictive STR regimes, as STRs have evolved from a mostly innocuous practice to a threat to urban identity and collective life; (2) foreground the decisive role of grassroots activism and democratic processes in driving this shift, alongside resistance from rentier groups through lobbying and litigation; (3) highlight law’s dual role as both a tool for regulating STRs and a framework constraining regulatory efforts through judicial scrutiny, while observing significant divergence in this regard in the two contexts; and (4) ultimately push for greater attention to social sustainability and community well-being in tourism governance.