1,720,990 research outputs found
Does tourism flow in cities drive green practices in the current smart city trajectories? Empirical evidence from Italy
No full textPurpose - The concept of a smart city is becoming more closely linked to tourism destinations. The relationship between the environment, sustainability and tourism has become more interrelated. An eco-friendly city environment can influence tourists' decisions, but tourist flows can also negatively impact the local ecosystem by increasing energy consumption, air pollution and environmental sustainability. In this research letter, the authors reverse this perspective, moving into smart city trajectories, highlighting that increasing tourism in cities drives the city to advance a green transition to respond to the imbalance generated by large flows of tourists that increase the users-density of the city. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the symbiotic relationship between increasing tourism in cities and the imperative for a green transition.Design/methodology/approach - This study builds on the generalized method of moment approach and an 11-year panel data set covering 30 Italian cities to investigate the relationship between tourism flow and the cities' green practices embedded in the smart environment dimension.Findings - This study provides empirical evidence that a large flow of tourists in cities positively affects the cities' green transition, contributing to the advancement of smart tourism and smart city debate.Research limitations/implications - The study focuses only on one country, and although its results may be generalizable to the European Union, it is not representative at a global level and requires further research.Practical implications - This study offers practical implications underscoring the benefits of large tourism inflow in managing and implementing smart city projects.Social implications - Tourism and overtourism may lead to a city reaction regarding green practices, which can have a multiplier benefit on the urban environment.Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first study attempt to investigate the tourism flow as a driver of smart city implementation, considering the city's reaction to tourism and overtourism conditions in the city that would lead to the ecological and sustainable collapse of a city
Innovation in cities a driving force for knowledge flows: Exploring the relationship between high-tech firms, student mobility, and the role of youth entrepreneurship
No full textCities have increasingly asserted their central role in the national economy and in developing and promoting knowledge and innovation at local and national levels. Scholars, economists, and policymakers have examined the effects of innovation in this field as well as the resulting impact on the competitiveness and attractiveness of cities, regions, and urban areas. In the knowledge age, the importance of new generations and the trend towards high-skilled human capital are key factors in urban and national development. In this study, we aim to examine the role played by high-tech firms in the city context and its influence on the attraction of knowledge flow and analyse the moderating role of youth entrepreneurship in those relationships. Using the Spatial Panel data model, we evaluated the student flow interconnections in 30 Italian cities for a 10-year period (2009-2019). As a result, we found that the city attractiveness in terms of student mobility is influenced by the capacity of cities to generate and promote innovation in terms of high-tech firms at the local and spatial levels. These findings suggest that local high-tech firms in cities can influence the knowledge inflow and students' mobility while youth entrepreneurship in cities positively affects this relationship. The obtained results could serve as a good basis to enhance the city development policies in terms of innovation and knowledge, as well as the implementation of smart city projects
Cities (r)evolution in the smart era: smart mobility practices as a driving force for tourism flow and the moderating role of airports in cities
No full textPurposeThe significance of smart mobility practices in shaping cities from a smart perspective has grown in recent years, influencing policies and the choices made by inhabitants. This transformation has led to the emergence of novel services and strategies, creating a new, vibrant and highly personalised urban environment that caters to the needs and preferences of both local residents and visitors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of smart mobility practices on tourism flows in cities, considering the moderating effect of airport activities on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachUsing a generalised method of moments estimation and focusing on 20 Italian cities over an eight-year period, the authors highlight the current relationship between smart mobility practices and tourism flows. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that the yearly advancement of airports positively moderates this relationship.FindingsThe findings indicate a significant relationship between smart mobility practices in modern cities and tourism inflows because they influence the development of tourism services and emerging trends such as smart tourism and smart destinations. Furthermore, airport activities as a proxy for city openness play a crucial role in this link. The study shows that airports have an incremental impact on tourism and on the relationship between tourism and sustainable practices.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of this quantitative approach include the focus on a single country, the challenge of measuring the development of smart mobility practices due to a lack of standardised variables and the need for future research to expand the sample to different countries in relation to tourism inflows.Practical implicationsThis study has practical implications for policymakers and governance in their task of effectively coordinating internal smart mobility practices and managing incoming tourism flows.Social implicationsThis study has social implications, highlighting the need for policymakers and governance to address the societal impacts of smart mobility practices and tourism inflows, ensuring inclusive and sustainable outcomes for local communities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature as one of the first attempts to examine the interplay between smart mobility practices in smart cities and tourism flows. Furthermore, it emphasises the role of airports in this relationship, highlighting how the interaction between these variables benefits both stakeholders
Drivers for Industrial Energy Efficiency: Pieces of Evidence from Italian Manufacturing Enterprises
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Understanding municipalities and visitors tourism perspectives: An AI-driven analysis of Instagram posts in Italian and French villages
Full text linkIn the digital tourism age, both cities and villages are being shaped by rapid societal and technological transformations that redefine how they interact with visitors. While these transformations are fluid in cities, driven by the necessity to integrate residents and visitors, they have also become central for villages that engage with specific forms of tourism, particularly slow and rural tourism. It requires villages to change communication methods using social media and digital tools to benefit from these new opportunities for interaction. Research on
the interaction between villages and tourists through social media tools is still in its early stages and requires both (i) novel tools and (ii) insights to align visitors’ preferences and behaviours with villages’ communication strategies. To advance this discourse, this research note contributes to the advancement of visual and digital methodologies in tourism research by proposing a replicable framework based on artificial intelligence for visual content analysis, focusing on 33 rural villages in France and Italy to explore the dual communicative perspectives of visitors and municipalities. To do so, we developed and trained an artificial intelligence-based BOT named "AI DetectKeywords" which leverages DALL⋅E Image Generation technology to systematically analyse and categorize photographs. Our results reveal different nuances in the communication between the villages and the visitors, highlighting different perceptions and interactions in a context that can embrace two similar but distinct tourism paths (i.e., slow tourism and rural tourism). It also offers a useful guide for researchers, policymakers, and tourism communication managers to refine their communication strategies
Risk or Opportunity? Exploring the Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Decision and the Use of Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns in Less- and Well-Developed Regions in Italy
No full textEntrepreneurial decision-making is a complex area that impacts the creation and development of new ventures and is one of the main subjects of entrepreneurial research. Our study focuses on the impact of regional disparities on the entrepreneurial decision-making process regarding the adoption of alternative funding sources such as crowdfunding. Crowdfunding has recently garnered considerable interest because of its ability to “democratize” access to capital. Using a least-squares method (OLS) and inferential t-test statistics, we analyze how the entrepreneurial decision-making process differs across Italian regions on the adoption of equity crowdfunding campaigns as fundraising tools. Our results show that regional disparities matter in the entrepreneur’s decision-making process, pushing it towards alternative tools such as crowdfunding. Overall, we provide evidence that crowdfunding has gained prominence in Italy in recent years and may be a viable option for entrepreneurs operating in less developed regions to bridge the traditional regional disparity gap
Crowdfunding as Entrepreneurial Investment: The Role of Local Knowledge Spillover
No full textThis paper explores the role of local knowledge spillover and human capital as a driver of crowdfunding investment. The role of territory has already been studied in terms of campaign success, but the impact of territory on the use of financial sources like equity crowdfunding is not yet known. Using a sample of 435 equity crowdfunding campaigns in 20 Italian regions during a 4-year period (from 2016 to 2019), this paper evaluates the impact of human capital flow on the adoption of crowdfunding campaigns. Our results show that inbound knowledge in the region, measured in terms of the ability to attract national and international students, has a significant effect on the adoption of crowdfunding campaigns in the region itself
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