Complexity theory and tourism policy research

This paper investigates applications of complexity theory in the social sphere and considers its potential contribution to enhance understanding of tourism policy making. Five concepts are identified to explore complex social circumstances and human interactions that influence policy. Social applications of complexity suggest a move towards localised and deeper studies to explore the dynamics of policy enactment in context. It suggests complexity theory might be used as a thinking tool to enable a more holistic approach to policy analysis and investigate policy in its context, considering interactions between different policies/programmes, and the implications of human agency.

Understanding how sporting characteristics and behaviours influence destination selection: a grounded theory study of golf tourism

Sports tourism has received growing attention in academic research over the past two decades (Weed and Bull, 2009, Gibson, 2005) but greater understanding of the consumer is needed, particularly the factors influencing decisions to include sport as part of a leisure trip. This paper provides, through a focus on the sport of golf, insight into the characteristics of the sports tourist and how sports tourist behaviours influence the selection of locations deemed suitable for sports participation. This qualitative research employs a grounded theory methodology, underpinned by a constructivist epistemology, to evaluate twenty-six in-depth interviews with golf tourists. The findings propose a model which explains the relationship between golf tourist behaviours and destination selection. This identifies six strands which determine the relationship between the golf tourist, golf behaviours and destination selection (constructing the golf holiday, emotional rewards of taking a trip, total trip spend, amenities and support facilities, course characteristics and reputation of the destination). Furthermore it illuminates the complexity of these relationships through recognition of four spheres of influence (group dynamics, competition and ability, golfing capital and intermediaries). Discussion elucidates how this increased understanding of the golf tourist behaviours and destination selection might be applied to other sports, with conclusions exploring implications for the sports tourism industry and destinations.

Enhancing the student experience by embedding personal tutoring in the curriculum

This paper evaluates an initiative to improve the effectiveness of personal tutoring by embedding it into the curriculum. Structured group tutorials help students make the transition to learning in higher education. These tutorials are delivered within a core module and focus on enabling students to develop study skills, reflect on their learning and plan for their future. The tutor has a role in familiarising students with the practices, norms and skills required for learning at university. The system developed provides a structure and rationale for the interaction of tutors and students, with a clear place and value within the curriculum.

An accessibility planning tool for network transit oriented development : SNAP

In the academic debate regarding the influences between urban form, built environment and travel patterns, a specific idea that has taken hold is that more compact urban development around railway stations, often referred to as Transit Oriented Development (TOD), contributes to the control of vehicle travel and to more sustainable metropolitan systems. According to this general principle this work proposes a GIS accessibility tool for the design of polycentric transit oriented scenario: SNAP - Station Network Accessibility Planning tool. In the first part the state of the art on Transit Oriented Development policies in Europe is presented with a focus on three study cases. In the second part the SNAP tool is described, with remarks to the approach, the methodology and the used indicators. Furthermore the paper discusses an application to the metropolitan area of Naples.

Film as an archive for colonial photographs: activating the past in the present

This practice-led research looks at the ways in which the colonial archive, and the colonial photographic archive in particular, can be reconstructed to produce new critical histories. The research argues for the potential of the moving image as a tool for re-staging colonial archives, as a means of generating responsible ways of looking at, and of engaging with our troubled collective pasts. In my practice I mix the photographic archive of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company(which became BP) with my family’s photographs from Iran, and with the documentation and narrativization of my encounter with both of these sets of materials, within the moving image. Through this process I address questions about the nature of the photographic archive and the search for historical meaning within it; the question of the researcher’s position within the archive and within the history she produces; and I investigate the affective power of colonial photographs within film and the experience of untimeliness which they produce. While addressing problems associated with the failure of photographic archives to offer access to any stable, transparent meaning, I show how engaging with slippages of meaning can produce other kinds of historical knowledge. But I also argue that attending to the impression of the ‘real’ produced by the colonial photograph as it appears within film, makes the past felt in the present tense, in ways that draw attention to the responsibility of being an onlooker in a situation of injustice. In addition I show how registering the place and time of the researcher within the new filmic archive in motion produces an effective means of imaginative time travel and a lively experience of history.