Projects / Programmes
Analysis of territorial and social impacts of the urban tourism and its territorial governance: the cases of Ljubljana, Graz and Maribor
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.08.00 |
Social sciences |
Urbanism |
|
| 5.02.00 |
Social sciences |
Economics |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S230 |
Social sciences |
Social geography |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.07 |
Social Sciences |
Social and economic geography |
| 5.02 |
Social Sciences |
Economics and Business |
urban tourism, urban development, spatial planning, territorial impacts, social changes
Researchers (11)
Organisations (4)
Abstract
In line with this call’s objective 5 Urban Europe - today’s period could be identified as an urban development period. The cities do not act only as economic and immigration nodes, but at the same time attract a larger number of tourists causing significant spatial, social, environmental and economic impacts in the city. Under this pressure certain parts of the cities have been ‘touristified’ and a term ‘overtourism’ has been erected to describe this phenomenon. On average, the number of visitors in bigger cities increases with the rate of 5% per year; in the EU cities with the most demand with 10 to 15% rate. In Ljubljana the growth 2016/2017 accounted even for 16%. On one side the cities are aiming for the sustainable management of resources, while on the other they intensively promote themselves as tourist destinations. Reluctance to address this phenomenon is present in the existing tourism and spatial development strategies in which the urban tourism has gained attention only lately. The lack of cross-sectoral co-operation between urban planning and tourism sector can be addressed by utilisation of integrative planning. Therefore, the first project’s aim is to identify and evaluate the spatial and social impacts of tourism and the second one to find the tourism and spatial planning management model to address and mitigate these impacts.
The project applies the mixed methods’ approach which relies on public participation techniques (surveys, workshop, interviews), cartographic analysis and mapping. Research questions are addressed via four thematic WPs. In WP1 the urban tourism is characterised on the basis of existing definitions and spatial models (literature review). For the selected cities (Ljubljana, Maribor, Graz) statistical analysis of tourist visits is done, together with the review of the relevant studies addressing the topic. The field survey with the tourists focuses on their opinion about the infrastructure, and on mapping their routes around destination. In the WP2 the spatial dimension of the urban tourism is inspected via the Territorial Impact Assessment workshop, mapping of the potential tourists’ routes in the city (as suggested via different channels, e.g. guides), and the survey among inhabitants. WP3 is dedicated to the policy and institutional analysis (complemented with the interviews) and field trips to the benchmarking cities. The good practice analysis of the management practices serves as an input for the WP4 in which the sustainable tourism and spatial planning management model is developed and validated via the workshops. In addition to the interim and final report, the dissemination includes Open Access publications in scientific journals and conferences’ presentations, the joint seminar for the MSc students and the scientific monograph.
The research requires an interdisciplinary approach; hence an interdisciplinary team of geographers, economists, sociologists, landscape architects and architects has been formed in the consortium of five partners. Participation of the Austrian university enables comparison of the situation between the countries, and exchange of knowledge and good practices. The importance of the expected results for the scientific progress is in addressing new interdisciplinary research topic, namely understanding the relation between urban tourism and urban planning, and by offering integrative solutions for better urban management. The transnational comparison of the urban tourism in the mid-size Central EU cities gives the research additional international flare. In regards to the benefits of the society, the research will provide answers for more efficient urban tourism management in middle-sized cities, achieved through the solutions spatial planning is offering. The circle of the potential beneficiaries includes the city planners, policy makers, local tourist offices, and the residents.
Significance for science
The relevance to the development of science is in opening a new research field by focusing on the integration of the tourism and spatial planning. The need for this research has been expressed by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Summit 2016, the AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning) annual congress 2017 and by publishing the special issue of Tourism Geographies journal with the title ' Urban planning and tourism in European cities” in 2018. The main conclusion of the summit was that ‘city tourism and spatial planning should go hand in hand’. At the AESOP event selected European cities (Lisbon, Barcelona) presented examples of how spatial planning has been failing the mitigation of the tourism impacts and new approaches are necessary. Up to date, the Slovenian research on urban tourism has mostly focused on heritage tourism and the conservative research approaches encompassing statistical analysis, offer and demand analysis, and inspected cities in the frame of cultural tourism or classical tour tourism. Therefore, this study aims to provide a fresh outlook on the urban tourism analysis by combining statistical and spatial analysis, and exploring new approaches in the frame of both - tourism management, and spatial planning. Use of the trip diary and Territorial Impact Assessment, will enable testing and reflecting on innovative analytical methods in the field of urban tourism research. Additional novelty is inclusion of inhabitants as important stakeholders, since former studies predominantly focused on the tourist only.
The interdisciplinary team of geographers, economists, architects, landscape architects, and sociologist will enable a multidimensional perspective on the problem and combine the knowledge of different professions. The transnational comparison of the phenomenon, including the field trips, will produce results of high validity also for similar Central European mid-size cities, affected by the tourism in similar manner. Therefore, the professionals in these cities, will aquire:
_ Improvements for the strategic policies and urban plans will be suggested,
_ Solutions for efficient and sustainable management of tourism through spatial planning instruments will be exchanged and developed.
_ Ideas for a more sustainable and spatially diversified tourist offer will be produced in the frame of the model.
An important value of the project is in the field of education, all participating partners are academic institutions, thus the project results will be directly transmitted into the teaching process. Four researchers in the team teach tourism/tourism related subjects and a joint seminar will be prepared for the master students on the topic. The results of the project will serve as an input for applying for the larger research project financed on the transnational level for investigation of urban tourism on a larger scale.
Significance for the country
The relevance to the development of science is in opening a new research field by focusing on the integration of the tourism and spatial planning. The need for this research has been expressed by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Summit 2016, the AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning) annual congress 2017 and by publishing the special issue of Tourism Geographies journal with the title ' Urban planning and tourism in European cities” in 2018. The main conclusion of the summit was that ‘city tourism and spatial planning should go hand in hand’. At the AESOP event selected European cities (Lisbon, Barcelona) presented examples of how spatial planning has been failing the mitigation of the tourism impacts and new approaches are necessary. Up to date, the Slovenian research on urban tourism has mostly focused on heritage tourism and the conservative research approaches encompassing statistical analysis, offer and demand analysis, and inspected cities in the frame of cultural tourism or classical tour tourism. Therefore, this study aims to provide a fresh outlook on the urban tourism analysis by combining statistical and spatial analysis, and exploring new approaches in the frame of both - tourism management, and spatial planning. Use of the trip diary and Territorial Impact Assessment, will enable testing and reflecting on innovative analytical methods in the field of urban tourism research. Additional novelty is inclusion of inhabitants as important stakeholders, since former studies predominantly focused on the tourist only.
The interdisciplinary team of geographers, economists, architects, landscape architects, and sociologist will enable a multidimensional perspective on the problem and combine the knowledge of different professions. The transnational comparison of the phenomenon, including the field trips, will produce results of high validity also for similar Central European mid-size cities, affected by the tourism in similar manner. Therefore, the professionals in these cities, will aquire:
_ Improvements for the strategic policies and urban plans will be suggested,
_ Solutions for efficient and sustainable management of tourism through spatial planning instruments will be exchanged and developed.
_ Ideas for a more sustainable and spatially diversified tourist offer will be produced in the frame of the model.
An important value of the project is in the field of education, all participating partners are academic institutions, thus the project results will be directly transmitted into the teaching process. Four researchers in the team teach tourism/tourism related subjects and a joint seminar will be prepared for the master students on the topic. The results of the project will serve as an input for applying for the larger research project financed on the transnational level for investigation of urban tourism on a larger scale.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
