Spazi del turismo: La dimensione dell'incontro e il progetto dell' esperienza creativa. Fare uno spazio PER o CON i turisti?

Tourism, as the force through which places are experienced, can be qualified as a means of intervening in reality, offering an interpretation to places by giving them shape (Medina Lasansky, D., McLaren, B., 2004). The ability of tourism to organize territories and cities is our starting point and the tool through which we will attempt to comprehend and interpret the phenomenon, on the basis of its expansion and recent changes. Changes in tourism, described by recent theories, represent a common ground which has given rise to a series of new questions in many disciplines and also represents the framework in which our research will be carried out. Our study provides a close-up and crosssectional look inside this change, as our objective is to understand spatial consequences whilst considering the interdisciplinary junction where the phenomenon is inevitably revealed. The dissolution of precise spatial, temporal, functional and semantic scans of industrial cities and tourist areas, proposed by leisure studies, sociology and anthropology, has exposed the limits of tourism as an industry for leisure and entertainment (see for example Savelli, A., 2004). According to a trend observed in recent decades, tourism, cultural activities and leisure have become vehicles for the economic development and improvement of the image of cities, increasing the livability of areas for both tourists and locals. In this complex scenario, the tourism industry seems to adopt varying strategies; it proposes the construction of new artificial attractions, makes creative offers in sectors which are no longer limited to traditional areas and adopts arguments which were once considered unrelated to the phenomenon (Ninot, R., P., Vilanova Claret, J. M., 2011). The object of the study therefore includes constructions and products in the tourism industry, as well as those processes that are halfway between original locations and new destinations, for example projects which redefine the identity of post-industrial territories as touristic and cultural, the creative experience and events promotion, in an attempt to create a common dimension for both locals and tourists. The geographical context is not predetermined by a single and main reality, but rather concerns a debate and international plan, even if it is Europe which offers the largest source of information, research and experience. The reason for this is that such geographical regions constitute primary destinations in terms of tourist arrivals, in particular from within the country itself, and are considered mature destinations. They are a laboratory of complex phenomena, whether already consolidated or still in its experimental stages. A conscious effort was made to detach our research from so called ethnic tourism, so as not to run the risk of delving into an anthropological study of cultures affected by the phenomenon and in order to avoid the danger that tourism will continue to be interpreted in a negative way. In effect this is not a study on cities and territories affected by tourism. We are nonetheless aware of new entries into the tourism market by many Asian and African countries, which for too long have been neglected by international tourist flows and which represent a new fountain of active tourism and new tourist destinations. Both developed and emerging countries, in varying roles and at different times, are now placing tourism at the center of the debate on the development and transformation of territories. Objectives Given our belief that tourism, society and the construction of space share a close relationship, our study provides an insight into the primary methods of the spatialisation of tourism, taking note of settlement logic and primary planning tools. Furthermore, by reflecting on the evolution of the concept of tourism from the perspective of intensification and progress, considering tourism as a tool for development and urban regeneration, our work proposes a reinterpretation of its spatial application. The progress of tourism has reached a level of consistency forcing us to consider its new spatial significance, demonstrating the coexistence of elements and logics which previously belonged to different spheres. The dichotomy between industrial cities and tourism spaces is subsequently being overcome, in much the same way as the boundaries between the city and the countryside were dissolved in the 20th century (Ninot, R. P., Vilanova Claret, J. M., 2011). The core of this new orientation has led to a new concept of tourism which aims to identify possible tourism spaces and cities, associated with the notion of overcoming the idea of tourism as the mere flow of people towards a destination, thereby achieving a complex and multidimensional space. Interest in this new approach to tourism can be translated into project outcomes and is determined by the desire to challenge the traditional concept of tourism as the consumption of products and false representations adapted to mass tourism, rather creating a model in which people and places interact together with tourists. By analyzing the process by which tourism transformation methods are defined, our study leads to the formation of an opinion about the architectural features of spaces, without focusing on the results of the languages used. We are not seeking an exhaustive or complete view of the current situation, but rather the definition of a possible framework and the foreshadowing of its potential. We consider the results of our research to be a starting point and at the same time a contribution to the analysis of the relationship between tourism and the construction of its spaces. Division in chapters The research is theoretical-analytical and is aimed towards providing an understanding of the evolutionary relationship between tourism and the organization of spaces. The study has been divided into a foreword, three main chapters. In the foreword we describe the point of departure. Since the 80s, critical planning production pertaining to the postmodern theory has focused its attention on tourism theories (see D., Mac Cannell, J., Urry, Savelli, a., Simonicca, A.). The clear divide between the vision of tourism as specialized in time and place and the progress of a widespread and usable reality, has created the need for an explanation of the process involved in the design of tourism spaces, without prejudice. Drawing from leisure studies, cultural studies and anthropology, we have determined the perspective from which to view the phenomenon. The interpretational tools that have emerged have proven to be appropriate and useful in order to comprehend the construction of tourism spaces. In the first chapter we therefore provide a reference framework for the relationship between tourism, architecture and the construction of spaces. Using an iconographic tool illustrated across a timeline, we have presented the physical data of architectural designs in relation to the phenomenon. Three reading keys have been selected as a lens through which to deal with and understand the spatialisation of tourism, procedures for the construction of sites, primary settlements and planning tools associated with tourism. The three themes represent the planning processes at the foundation of tourism spaces, represented over a course of time according to the events and transformations that have affected the world over the last two centuries and according to cultural, leisure and anthropology studies concerning mankind and behavior in relation to space. The first theme views tourism as a genuine form of leisure, therefore capable of creating the need for new types of spaces facilitating the achievement of such an experience. The second theme examines theories of gaze as a cultural and technological transformation process, whereby the use of a visual image connects a tangible resource (a tourist attraction) to its subsequent mediation, conversion and appreciation. This change, expressed in the relationship between touristicity and touristification and conveyed by tools such as maps, images and tourist guides, intersects with the planning of spaces, revealing possibilities to invent new ways of looking, mapping, and building tourism landscapes. The third theme examines the meeting, or rather the complex anthropic dimension between people, between people and places and between tourists and locals. The meeting is a space for interaction, a scenario of presence amongst people that can be influenced, denied by the organization and materiality of a site. The elaboration of the background is defined through an interdisciplinary analysis based on theories of leisure, gaze and the meeting paradigm, making reference to principal debates on tourism space and architectural projects. The picture which emerges, where images, landscapes, sites, fragments of cities, itineraries, monuments and debates coexist, invites us to grasp the overall significance of tourism spaces in terms of their relationship with their constructed environment, their mediation and design. This chapter does not seek to reconstruct the history of tourist settlements, but rather demonstrate the ways in which the principles of spatial organization can be identified in tourism, which has been structured and modified over time to become one of the major agents of the transformation of territories and cities. In the second chapter, the question of how tourism organizes spaces is analyzed through a reflection on the intensification of tourism in post-industrial cities. What kind of spaces are produced today? Whilst in the 60s projects for cities of leisure and entertainment were largely opposed in favor of everyday life (Ninot, R.P., Vilanova Claret, J.M., 2011), today a strong alliance exists between tourism and the transformation of cities, with tourism now viewed as a valuable tool for development and improvement. This trend has revealed that leisure is becoming increasingly associated with everyday activities; resources, now greater and more attractive, are becoming more creative and not necessarily tied to the environmental and historical heritage of countries, but rather are immaterial and intangible; the spaces that tourists are looking for are becoming increasingly alternative and are in contrast with enclave-like forms. Faced with these last requirements, the contrast between architecture for tourism and the production of new spaces reopens the door to possible architectural designs with respect to the organizing principles analyzed in the first chapter. We are able to confirm that the design approach for tourism experiences, forming the basis on which the challenge for tourism spaces is played out, will need to provide a response to the following question: which solutions exist for the creation of spaces FOR tourists, and which exist for the creation of spaces WITH tourists? The concept of creating a space FOR or WITH tourists, marks the passage from the interpretation of tourism as an industrial sector which produces specialised spaces, to its interpretation as a creative process which transforms territories and understands the dimensions of meetings between people and places, the creative experience and movement paradigms, measuring the possible translation of space and design. The third chapter is a narrative project of the well-defined framework which emerges from the first two chapters. It constitutes a reflection on tourism spaces and recounts the emblematic characters of which the contemporary world of tourism is composed. Each space expresses an extreme character, conceived with respect to the three planning tools which emerged from the first chapter, therefore based on settlement methods associated with leisure, the relationship between touristicity and touristification and between tourists and locals, with the inclusion of recent developments described in the second chapter. The chosen spaces, which highlight differences and emphasise a character of their own, represent an archetypal idea of space. Their narration implicitly poses the question of design. The assessment, performed during an internship in the Department of Leisure Studies at the University of Tilburg with Prof. Greg Richards, is the result of an analysis performed together with a tourism expert, through the selection and examination of real tourism spaces in the Netherlands which are alongside extreme spaces. From this perspective it is possible to draw the first conclusions, making an attempt to separate and propose two meanings of construction in tourism spaces; creating a space FOR tourists and creating a space WITH tourists. The conclusions look to the future; creating a space WITH tourists represents a spatial and planning conception of tourism today, based on which architecture needs to reflect in order to interpret and introduce the question of tourism and leisure into contemporary cities.