TOURISM AND THE CITY: OPPORTUNITY FOR REGENERATION

Urban tourism is in full expansion due to world-wide urbanisation and internationalisation of our societies. New economic impulse created by investments in urban regeneration, and improving the quality of life, produces different consequences. This paper tries to examines the benefits and costs which tourism has on host environments, economies and societies and analyses the strategic conditions which can assist cities to revitalise their territory, through a coherent tourism policy. An Italian case study, Genoa is used to illustrate some of these impact issues. Genoa, after a deep crisis, has regained a new identity and its role in the Italian economic and social system. The paper provides a critical approach of how places of cultural significance are transformed into places of consumption by investigating the relationship between culture as a resource for identity and culture as an economic resource.urban tourism, regeneration, culture, environment, sustainability

URBAN REGENERATION PROCESS - THE CASE OF GENOA, AN EXAMPLE OF INTEGRATED URBAN DEVELOPMENT APPROACH

This paper analyzes the process of Urban Regeneration in Europe and examines the factors influencing this process as well as its implementation. Foundamental changes in the economy, technology, demography and politics are reshaping the environment for cities in Europe. These changes have induced a logic of competion in a dynamic and complex context. In the attempt to become and remain an attractive place for inhabitants, city users, businessmen and visitors, cities invent their own strategies, discovering that the policies of local governments need to be more marked-oriented with an eye to the city’s weaknesses and strenghts. Many historic cities in recent decades experienced redevelopment for new “postindustrial uses” often related to culture, tourism, technology. Such uses may offer the potential for creating more sustainable and liveable cities. Especially in old industrial areas, new politics, strategies and funds have been used for re-utilization of old industrial sites. Clear examples for this is Italian case studies like Genoa. In Genoa a programme for restructuring the old harbour areas, the waterfront and the historic centre has been set up. Genoa approaches functional specialisation as a more general element in its strategy for increasing economic competitiveness. The development of transport systems, services, infrastructures, promises considerable renovation of the urban functions with a significant growth in the economy linked to cultural activities and tourism. Regeneration programmes for de-industrialised areas have promoted the location and relocation of business investments as well as actions to improve a productive diversification. At present Genoa after a deep crisis, has regained a new identity and its role in the Italian economic and social system. This paper integrates three issues. First it describes some of the main features of pattern of urban development and the increase of competition, setting the scene for a more strategic action. Second analyzes the case study Genoa, an example of integrated urban development approach. Third attention is drawn on the way in which cities “create” their own image management, using actions that shown and reveal hidden resources.

STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE TOURIST INDUSTRY

The paper analyzes the role and the significance of tourism, as one particular set of industries that are of great significance in contemporary western societies, namely consumer services and especially tourist- related services. Particular emphasis is given to the impact of tourism on host communities, the changing role of tourism in the European economy, the relationship between tourism and environment, and its place in urban regeneration. Tourism is one of the most significant social forces in the world today. It also has enormous international economic and geopolitical importance. The economic, social environmental and cultural implications of such developments can be seen in a lot of cities. Tourism constructs, rearranges, and inhabits geographic, social and cultural spaces globally. This paper tries to better understand in a systematic way the spatial relationships, tourism systems and environments.The focus is on consumption and culture as drivers of urban policy. The main theme is that of tourism as a totalizing social construction of places and identities. The strong connections between society, time and space implies that the concept of 'society', the nature of 'locality', the significance of 'economic restructuring', and the concept of the 'rural', are to be examined in relationship to place. The paper then considers how places have been transformed by the development of service occupations and industries. Attention is then devoted to the ways in which places are consumed, the visual character of such consumption and its implications for place and people. The implications for nature and the environment are also explored . Places are constructed for tourism consumption through the promotion of certain images that have implications for the built environment. Tourist consumption is a place- creating and a place-altering act. The production and expansion of tourist spaces has consequences for the build environment, and so the promotion of a certain images can impact on the authenticity of environments. The paper tries to provide a critical approach of how places of cultural significance are trasformed into places of consumption by investigating the relationship between culture as a resorce for identity and social meaning and culture as an important economic resource for post-industrial cities.

Entre Oriente y Occidente: Kazajstán y la nueva Ruta de la Seda de China

Este artículo analiza la visión del desarrollo a largo plazo de Kazajstán y sus ambiciosos objetivos. Tras revisar la historia de los proyectos de infraestructuras del país durante el período zarista y la era soviética, expone los planes del presidente kazajo Nursultán Nazarbáyev hasta el año 2050 para convertir al país en un hub logístico entre Oriente y Occidente. A continuación, contextualiza la visión de Nazarbáyev con la realidad política y económica de Kazajstán, en concreto, en cómo la política exterior multivectorial del Gobierno se mueve entre los proyectos de integración regional de Rusia y el empuje chino hacia el oeste para desarrollar la provincia de Xinjiang a lo largo de la nueva Ruta de la Seda. Como conclusión, dentifica los múltiples retos que pueden poner en cuestión el futuro de este plan

STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE TOURIST INDUSTRY

The paper analyzes the role and the significance of tourism, as one particular set of industries that are of great significance in contemporary western societies, namely consumer services and especially tourist- related services. Particular emphasis is given to the impact of tourism on host communities, the changing role of tourism in the European economy, the relationship between tourism and environment, and its place in urban regeneration. Tourism is one of the most significant social forces in the world today. It also has enormous international economic and geopolitical importance. The economic, social environmental and cultural implications of such developments can be seen in a lot of cities. Tourism constructs, rearranges, and inhabits geographic, social and cultural spaces globally. This paper tries to better understand in a systematic way the spatial relationships, tourism systems and environments.The focus is on consumption and culture as drivers of urban policy. The main theme is that of tourism as a totalizing social construction of places and identities. The strong connections between society, time and space implies that the concept of 'society', the nature of 'locality', the significance of 'economic restructuring', and the concept of the 'rural', are to be examined in relationship to place. The paper then considers how places have been transformed by the development of service occupations and industries. Attention is then devoted to the ways in which places are consumed, the visual character of such consumption and its implications for place and people. The implications for nature and the environment are also explored . Places are constructed for tourism consumption through the promotion of certain images that have implications for the built environment. Tourist consumption is a place- creating and a place-altering act. The production and expansion of tourist spaces has consequences for the build environment, and so the promotion of a certain images can impact on the authenticity of environments. The paper tries to provide a critical approach of how places of cultural significance are trasformed into places of consumption by investigating the relationship between culture as a resorce for identity and social meaning and culture as an important economic resource for post-industrial cities

Ariel - Volume 10 Number 1

Executive Editors Madalyn Schaefgen David Reich Business Manager David Reich News Editors Medical College Edward Zurad CAHS John Guardiani World Mark Zwanger Features Editors Meg Trexler Jim O\u27Brien Editorials Editor Jeffrey Banyas Photography and Sports Editor Stuart Singer Commons Editor Brenda Peterso

Bridging the “consent gap”. Mechanisms of legitimization in a cross-border megaproject

In the recent debate on megaprojects, greater attention is devoted to the functioning of the inter-organisational and multi-actor networks that are one of the most innovative features of recent years. The complexity of these structures brings out governability issues for a megaproject’s management. Mutual recognition and consent become elements capable of inaugurating more collaborative processes and practices to reduce organisational and management criticalities in megaprojects. This paper focuses on a neglected relational dimension, namely legitimacy. We argue that legitimacy is instead the central dimension that attributes effectiveness and capacity for action to the organisations involved. Legitimacy regulates the relationship between various organisations – and especially – between organisations and the public sphere. Institutionalist theory assigns a central role to legitimacy in the construction of social processes, defining it as a generalised form of social acceptance towards an actor, an idea or a project. In this paper, we hypothesise that the legitimacy attributed and “held” by the stakeholders is a crucial element in countering three critical aspects of megaprojects, namely the uncertainty, complexity and conflict acting on the construction of public consensus and the quality of relations between the participating stakeholders. We verify our hypothesis by analysing a cross-border megaproject, the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link between Germany and Denmark. The paper concentrates on the mechanisms with which stakeholders can acquire legitimacy using the Eriksen discursive legitimation scheme. These mechanisms are different (evidence-based, public participation, and legislators’ command) and produce different outcomes in terms of increasing or containing these three criticalities

Social Innovation and Environmental Sustainability in Social Housing Policies: Learning from Two Experimental Case Studies in Italy

This chapter critically examines approaches and solutions developed by social housing to sustainably respond to the housing emergency plaguing contemporary cities and Italian cities in particular. In a broader perspective, we also investigate how housing has become ‘difficult’ in Europe and the poorest segments of the population run the risk of having their right to housing dramatically denied. Analysing housing in terms of its procedural dimension, we focus on two Italian case studies that evoke a new way of inhabiting the city, cases in which high standards characterised social housing and yet remain accessible to all. The Sharing hotel residence in Turin and Zoia social housing in Milan combine housing with other socially innovative measures in a framework of sustainability and avant-garde construction. These are significant examples that speak to issues such as temporariness, flexibility and the coordination of measures. These two cases both pursued objectives having to do with social, planning, architectural and environmental quality, albeit each in their own way. There are by now numerous examples of social housing in Europe and these have recently attracted growing interest in Italy as well; in this country, however, such projects represent valid instances of experimentation but are not at all widespread

Is an urban waste-to-energy plant a “green” megaproject? The power of narratives in shaping the city: a Danish case study

The role of communication in shaping cities has increased mainly in the last decades due to its relevance to the policymaking process. Even if the scientific debate regarding the Narrative Policy Framework reveals the importance of policy narratives influencing policy outcomes, the relationship between policy and political narratives has often been overlooked. In this paper, we explore this relationship by analysing the policy process of a megaproject case study involving a waste-to-energy plant in Denmark and the intricate process leading to its realisation. The polysemic concept of Smart Cities initially divides the policy arena between proponents of a pro-growth rhetoric focused on market strategy (advocating for a larger plant to expand market scope) and proponents of a pro-green rhetoric embracing sustainability, questioning the adequacy of the plant’s size (and highlighting potential negative trade-offs of a big plant). We illustrate how implementing policy ideas relies heavily on constructing narratives that political decision-makers use to advocate for specific policies (policy narratives) presented within a broader institutional discourse in the political arena (political narratives). This study assesses how the polysemic nature of policy ideas influences contemporary social institutions’ governance, structure, and operation, posing a challenge for environmental public management in today’s cities

La sostenibilità urbana

Il contributo introduce i principali contenuti del corso: gli aspetti socio-spaziali della sostenibilità in ambito urbano e territoriale, le opportunità e le sfide ad essa collegate. I temi trattati sono parte diun processo di costruzione delle competenze e conoscenze volto ad analizzare ed interpretare il rapporto tra ambiente e società attraversogli approcci teorici e i metodi della Sociologia dell’Ambiente e del Territorio. La sostenibilità è, pertanto, intesa come un percorsodi apprendimento riflessivo che ridefinisce le nozioni di spazio,luogo, natura e che condiziona visioni e comportamenti individuali e collettivi. La questione ambientale è qui considerata come driver per il cambiamento sociale e il focus è sull’analisi della dimensionemicro riferita a modelli, pratiche e stili di vita quotidiani. Il corsoesplora le dimensioni ambientali della sostenibilità urbana ma anchequelle economiche e sociali mettendo in luce alcune possibili linee di intervento