1,721,260 research outputs found
Imagining collaborative tourism futures
No full textWicked problems of the world—poverty, health and wellbeing, equality, climate change, refugee crises, sustainability, …; continue to challenge humankind. Despite decades of collaborations, partnerships, policies and research, these wicked problems remain primarily unresolved and manifold. This is not unexpected as this is inherent in the nature of wicked problems. As Horst Rittel (1967 in Churchman, 1967) and Rittel and Webber (1973) noted, wicked problems are marked by the inability to provide a universal solution and a universal research approach. Instead the problems are context specific and continually transmogrify – there is no end point. In addition, they can overlap, interrelate, interconnect and intersect. In framing the nature of a wicked problem, the knowledge sets and experiences, social situatedness, respective insider- or outsider-ness and worldviews of the various stakeholders involved play critical roles with regard to how the problem is addressed. They inform and shape what is given attention and why; what is included or excluded and why; as well as the methodologies and methods used. Every attempt to address a wicked problem leaves a legacy including repercussions and unintended consequences. There is no undoing of actions. As four of the manifold stakeholders concerned with wicked problems, researchers, planners, designers and practitioners have the task of “improv[ing] some [of the] characteristics of the world where people live…†(Rittel & Webber, 1973:167). These four stakeholders, like all stakeholders, are responsible for the consequences of their actions and ongoing ramifications associated with the redress of wicked problems. Unlike traditional “scientized†(Xiang, 2013: 2) linear approaches used to address solvable, or ‘tame’, problems; non-linear, social process-based problem-solving approaches are required for wicked problems. Rather than outcomes being supported/not supported or validated/not validated in the case of tame problems, strategies used to address wicked problems are usually evaluated using criteria, such as “better or worseâ€, and are always influenced by stakeholder viewpoints (Rittel & Webber, 1973:163). As a consequence of the nature of wicked problems, there is no ‘quick fix’ or easy way to address these ‘malignant’, ‘vicious’, ‘tricky’, ‘aggressive’ – wicked problems (Rittel & Webber, 1973:160).</p
Understanding Collaboration and Sustainable Tourism Development
No full textThis chapter will provide conceptual clarifications of collaboration and sustainable development, and their application to tourism. Collaboration is not new in the contexts of tourism research, tourism higher education or the tourism industry. Academic life thrives on selection, classification and informed judgement, which are not at odds with collaboration. Without argument and counterargument, knowledge cannot be advanced. Tourism destinations are made up of many industry actors and stakeholders who are engaged in a myriad of networks and collaborative efforts. Tourists readily choose between destinations in a globally competitive field. Many travel to over-crowded destinations, where the tourism sector drives the destination to accommodate its demands, which may be at odds with sustainably living within the needs and wants of the destination and its local inhabitants. This chapter will attempt to overcome the all too frequent gap between sustainability in tourism theory and practice, by focusing on collaborative dimensions and possible critical engagements. The overall objective is to add three aspects to the current literature and appreciative understanding of the importance of collaboration for sustainable tourism development.</p
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