<![CDATA[This study investigates urban tourism in Denpasar, Bali, and how it expands by displacing the Subak irrigation system, a living heritage institution that underlies Balinese identity at the regional level. We theorize the urban tourism vortex as corresponding to a regularized process of normalization in which spatial planning priorities, labor market shift narratives, and development narratives become canon in accord with the thesis of Gramscian hegemony, such that agrarian dispossession expectations follow slowly but surely without the sound of open class antagonism. It employs a qualitative case study, using longitudinal land-use data (2009–2021), policy documents, field observations, and semi-structured interviews with Subak leaders, farmers, and temple custodians. Our findings illustrate three co-dependent governance challenges: (i) ecological contraction as 777 hectares of rice fields lose function, (ii) social restructuring through the redistribution of agricultural work towards tourism-related services, and (iii) symbolic transformation in which agro-cultural places are institutionally reconfigured as economic sites of urban values whilst retaining symbolic imagery for tourism branding. Collectively, these processes undermine the living heritage material and social foundations, although cultural symbols are retained for marketing purposes. By showing that cultural unsustainability can arise through incremental, consensual policies rather than direct coercion, this research contributes to tourism management literature.]]>
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