TOURISM AND ARCHITECTURE IN THE URBAN CULTURE:

aN integrated plaNning apprOach

TAIWAN- IAST- 2011

Prof.dr. em. Myriam Jansen-Verbeke

University Leuven–Belgium

Various heritage assets in the urban landscapes are now being transformed into spaces for tourism activities, settings for “staged” tourist experiences, ‘unique’ icons for place branding and structural elements in the tourist opportunity spectrum. This is a universal trend in the tourism market. So the challenge is to understand what makes the difference between places; the presence of tangible heritage buildings, complexes and cultural landscapes differs greatly in terms of quantity and scale, quality of conservation, cohesion in time and space. This implies that the opportunities and conditions to develop an attractive and sustainable tourism destination are unequal.

Awareness of the comparative advantages is only a first step in the process of tourism development. Tourism potential not only depends on what or how much the place has to offer, but far more on the way in which, cultural, human and financial resources are managed in view of a cultural economy.

The presentation intends to open a discussion on the role of architecture in the process of tourismscaping, on architectural icons and values as a distinguishing factor in the competitive arena. Controversies between conservation policies for heritage and inscribing new values in the strategic planning of urban landscapes are common. It needs endogenous capacities and planning skills to find the right balance for a sustainable tourism development. Sustaining cohesion in the urban landscape in terms of time and space, of scale and location, between historic landmarks and new architectural flagships requires new inspiring planning concepts and innovative models. The tourismscapes of the future are built on dynamic networks and on a sustainable consensus between the different stakeholders.

The development of an integrative planning approach to urban tourism and cultural dynamism is a high priority now on many policy agenda.

Keywords

Heritage, Tourist Opportunity Spectrum (TOS), Tourismscape, Historic landmarks and new flagships.

Selective References

JANSEN-VERBEKE, M, PRIESTLEY, G..L, RUSSO A. P. (eds) 2008, Cultural Resources for Tourism; Patterns, Processes, Policies . Nova Science Publishers. New York

Jansen-verbeke , M. 2010, Transformation from historic cityscapes to urban tourismscapes – a discussion note -. Revista di Szience del Turismo. pp31-49

JANSEN-VERBEKE (2010) Mapping intangible heritage: An inspired dialogue between the virtual past and the experienced present in Lira,S , Amoeda, R, (eds) Constructing Intangible Heritage. Green Lines Institute pp. 57-70

Plaza, B, 2000, Evaluating the influence of large cultural artifact in the attraction of tourism. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Case. Urban Affairs Review Vol 36: 2 pp. 264-274

Shoval,N, Strom, E. 2009, Inscribing Universal values into the urban landscape : New York, Jeruzalem and Winnepeg as case studies. In Urban Geography, 2009, 30.2 pp.143-161

VAN DER DUIM, R. 2007 Tourismscapes. An actor-network perspective. Annals of Tourism Research 34 (4). pp. 96 -976

Dr. Myriam Jansen-Verbeke

Prof.em.University Leuven -Belgium

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@21 February 2011