General information
Code: J7-1823
Period: 1.7.2019 - 30.6.2022
Range on year: 0.42 FTE | 2022
Project leader at FDV: prof.dr. Matjaž Uršič
Co-financiers: ARIS
Research activity: Social sciences
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.
The phases of the project and their realization
1. Urban tourism as a type of tourism
2. Spatial aspects of urban tourism
3. Sociological aspects of urban tourism
4. Characteristics of urban tourism in Central Europe
5. Development of (urban) tourism in Central Europe
6. Basic tourist statistics of Central European cities
7. Categorization of Central European cities by city type
8. Ljubljana as a tourist destination
9. Maribor as a tourist destination
10. Measuring the effects of urban tourism
11. Management aspects of urban tourism
Research Organisation
https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/17895
Researchers
https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/17895
Citations for bibliographic records
https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/17895
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