The Backlash Against Too Many Damn Tourists

International tourism has more than quadrupled since 1980, with growth in the last decade in particular being fueled by China’s mushrooming middle class. Now destination cities from Venice to Barcelona to Amsterdam to Auckland are seeing resistance from residents who feel their hometowns are being overrun. Richard Florida looks at the problems heavy tourism brings and possible ways to address them.

Preserving An Intricate, Crowded Artwork That Hadn’t Been Meant To Last

Built over 27 years (and counting) by mosaicist Isaiah Zagar and open to the public for a decade, the Magic Gardens installation in Philadelphia is now wildly popular – and the visitor traffic means repairing wear and tear that Zagar and his colleagues had never anticipated. Ashley Hahn reports on the program that’s now been set up to inspect and protect the countless tiny pieces of material in the mosaics that cover the site.

Are The Rape Jokes In This Play Beyond The Pale? Actually, They’re Not, Argues Lyn Gardner

Several critics have objected to a scene in David Ireland’s Ulster American, now running at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in which two male characters talk about which well-known females they would rape. “The rape conversation is not just thrown in to give the audience a good laugh, it is there for a reason. Actually, many reasons,” writes Gardner. “It may be extremely discomforting to watch, (there were several moments when I realised that my jaw was hanging open) but I don’t doubt that everyone involved interrogated every single one of the decisions they were making. Very carefully.”