Case study of strategies for the conversion of Intermediate Cities from a tourist product to an Urban and Cultural Attractor.

The urban interventions carried out in Intermediate Cities (Vargas, 2018) aimed at recovering the historical heritage and obtaining international recognition such as the Unesco World Heritage (EFE, 2020) or Cittaslow (2018) for its exploitation as places with tourist potential for its subsequent use as a driver of unstructured local economies can lead to the creation of "brand strategies as a differentiating element where marketing and profitability weigh more than the principles of conservation, protection, study, dissemination and development of heritage wealth both artistic and architectural” (De Souza, 2021, p. 735). Thus, there are "behaviors on the part of public administrations as modifiers of the functions of the urban space under the criteria of the market, developing gentrification processes" (Moros, 2017, p. 113) of the urban centers of tourist destinations.

Therefore, it is necessary to change the perception and significance in cities of being a tourist product to a renewed Tourist and Cultural "Urban Attractor" (Esteban et al, 2009, p. 50), since as an attractor the role of tourism could be transformed, going from being a generator of superficial and ephemeral consumption to an "actor of transformation, promotion and improvement of cultural creation and the quality of the city's vital space" (De Souza, 2022, p. 37).

Through the methodology of a bibliographic review of primary sources of seminal research and case studies, it is proposed to expose, and critically analyze, a series of strategies and tactical actions of transformation, renovation, and intervention in public space, but also in city management by the public authorities, that counts on the citizen participation to be able to define comprehensive, collaborative and cooperative projects, that help to change the significance of the tourist destination from a product of ephemeral consumption to an Urban Attractor and creator of permanent culture that consolidates the historical centers of the cities and help intermediate cities to achieve sustainable growth, with a balanced use of their resources.