Gringolandia: La tierra prometida: Mercado inmobiliario y metamorfosis urbana en ciudades intermedias

The central hypothesis of the study argues that the smaller cities have entered in the competition for capital and for placing themselves in the various international rankings. Cuenca -in Ecuador- is taken, as a case study due to its hierarchical status and the success of the urban marketing strategies that have inserted it into the dynamics of the international tourism industry and the real estate market for foreign retirees, in last decade. The urban transformations derived are analyzed in two specific areas of the city between 2000 and 2015, where processes of 'gentrification' and 'creative destruction' have been unleashed. It is observed that the recent urban metamorphosis linked to the massive arrival of foreign retirees in Cuenca is articulated to broader dynamics of capitalist accumulation and commercialization of the urban.