Using Co-Design to Move The Discourse of Sustainable Tourism from Theory to Practice

• The ample systems-orientated rhetoric of sustainable tourism has not triggered much practical change because it is directed at the wrong level and the relevance of the discourse eludes local agents in tourism systems. Practical movement towards sustainable tourism hinges on finding tools that can aid practical moves by local tourism enterprises and, as the local contexts vary, a flexible approach is needed. The paper exaimes co-design as a tool that can aid enterprise movement towards sustainable tourism practice. The empirical basis is an exploratory case study of a single recreational enterprise situated in Kolding, Southern Denmark. Empirical material was collected through multiple methods, comprising; observation, key informant interviews, customer surveys (n=41) and a co-design workshop. The case confirms the potential for co-design as a means to provoke identification of practical moves towards sustainable tourism practice. The research builds upon the body of sustainable tourism knowledge by using the perspective of Complex Adaptive Systems theory to highlight the need for new tools. It investigates the scope of co-design as a suitable tool to foment practical steps towards sustainable tourism practice within the complex ecology of tourism systems. Co-design has not been previously examined within tourism contexts. As a single qualitative case, it is not appropriate to make statistical generalizations based upon this study.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Co-design

Complex adaptive system (CAS)

schema

schemata

sustainable tourism

Tourism

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)