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CALL
FOR PAPERS
Conférence
Internationale /
International
Conference
Réseau
UNITWIN « Culture, Tourisme, Développement »
UNITWIN Network “Culture, Tourism, Development”
LE
TOURISME, MOTEUR DU DEVELOPPEMENT DURABLE
DES
SITES DU PATRIMOINE MONDIAL ?
Contextes,
pratiques, cadres d’évaluation
TOURISM AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
AT WORLD HERITAGE SITES: Contexts, Experiences and Frameworks of
Assessment
Libreville et Parc National de la Lopé, GABON, 1er au 8 juin
2012
Libreville and La Lopé
National Parc (WHS), GABON, June 1st to June 8th,
2012
RESPONSABLES SCIENTIFIQUES DU COLLOQUE/ SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZERS OF THE CONFERENCE:
Stéphanie NKOGHE (
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) et Raymond MAYER (Université Omar Bongo)
Maria GRAVARI-BARBAS et Sébastien JACQUOT (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Jordi TRESSERRAS (Université de Barcelone)
LES LIEUX DU COLLOQUE / THE VENUES
Institut Français du Gabon Saint-Exupéry, Libreville
http://www.ccfgabon.org/
Organisation
Université Omar Bongo
(Libreville, Gabon), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris, France),
Université de Barcelone (Espagne)
Contacts : Maria
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;
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INTRODUCTION
This Conference is organized by the UNITWIN UNESCO Network "Culture, tourism and development" coordinated by the UNESCO Chair "Culture, tourism and development" of the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. The UNITWIN UNESCO Network, founded in 2002, brings together twenty-five universities located in five continents providing training of very high level in heritage and tourism and is currently involved in several collaborative projects. Several annual meetings organized by the Network has allowed it to build a platform for international reflection and provide a ‘think tank’ on tourism issues as they relate to World Heritage. The International Conference to be held from 1 to 8 June 2012 in Libreville and the Lopé, follows the successful one organized in June 2010 in Quebec which was a major step in reflecting on the relationships between World heritage and tourism.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The inscription of sites on the World Heritage list is often part of local development strategies aiming to increase international tourist arrivals and revenues generated by the tourism sector. While tourism activities and local development strategies thus appear closely articulated, it often remains unclear what is meant by concepts such as ‘development’ or ‘sustainable development’.
Throughout the 20th and the early years of the 21st century, the notion of development has been claimed by different ideological camps to define projects of societal progress, economic growth, human development and most recently, sustainable development. Neither of these definitions is contradictory per se with the objective of UNESCO’s World Heritage list which is to ensure knowledge of a common heritage and build cohesion and common cultural understanding. However, the evaluations realised by ICOMOS and IUCN and also some of the sites inscribed on the List of Endangered Sites indicate that, under certain circumstances, tourism activities may become contradictory to the objective of maintaining the universal value of sites, particularly where adequate site management is not being practiced. Issues related to the touristic congestion of sites, their commoditisation, degradation through over use , the development of inadequate tourism infrastructures and the alienation of local communities are regularly identified as aspects of badly managed tourism development.
Yet, while the World Heritage Convention soon celebrates its 40th anniversary the stakeholders implicated in its implementation widely agree on the lack of data allowing the impact of tourism at world heritage sites to be understood and evaluated.
The aim of this Conference is to explore the conditions and criteria of development through tourism at World Heritage Sites. Does tourism represent an effective driver for economic, cultural and social development of the host societies, or, on the contrary, does it generate effects that upset the very conditions of development? Under which conditions does tourism contribute to development, under what conditions does it alter development and how do we measure this?
For some years now concepts such “carrying capacity”, have shown their limits in understanding the management of tourism at heritage sites and World Heritage in particular. The concept of “limits of acceptable change”, has been increasingly used by the stakeholders involved in various development and conservation projects but to be operational the relativity of this concept implies a pre-analysis and pre-comprehension of the implications of tourism development for all populations and publics concerned. It is based on a systemic analysis only rarely carried out at World Heritage Sites and can be seen to be the product of a particular ideological framework which poses further questions regarding the models of heritage and tourism development suggested.
The aim of this conference is to better understand the multiple dimensions of the relationships between World Heritage and tourism and to theoretically and pragmatically analyse actions to ensure tourism development is a factor for territorial development compatible with the preservation of the universal exceptional value of World Heritage.
A further ambition of the conference is to discuss currently employed methodologies, indicators, and their underpinning ideological frameworks, in both their local and international dimensions in order to create a better understanding of the conditions that will allow the safeguarding of World Heritage Sites.
Paper proposals should address aspects related to natural, cultural and mixed sites inscribed on the World Heritage List or HL, or listed as the masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Abstracts are encouraged to address one of the following themes:
1. MODELS AND PRACTICES OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN WHS
This theme discusses the notion of development related to tourism at World Heritage Sites. How is sustainable development defined, and what role does tourism play? Which objectives and assumptions guide the integration of tourism in the development and conservation of World Heritage Sites?
2. EVALUATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS FOR WORLD HERITAGE SITES
This theme seeks to identify methodologies, indicators and concepts currently used to evaluate the impacts of tourism on natural and cultural World Heritage Sites and their conservation. This includes critical approaches to the ideological frameworks underpinning such indicators. Bringing together both applied impact studies, methodologies, and more theoretical works papers should explore the conceptual frameworks used to elaborate frameworks to evaluate the ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ impacts of tourism. Which prescriptions and ideologies lie behind these indicators?
3. PRESCRIPTIONS, MODELS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AT WORLD HERITAGE SITES
This third theme focuses on the diverse collaborations that take place at the international level and induce and mediate local tourism development practices. Who are the actors implicated in these international cooperations and what is their level of involvement? Which actors and agencies – public, private and NGOs at national and international level - operate tourism development models at World Heritage Sites? Papers should focus on the articulation between development, tourism and heritage preservation within the full range of stakeholder groups.
4. INHABITANTS AND TOURISTS AS ACTORS OF DEVELOPMENT AT WORLD HERITAGE SITES
The development of World Heritage Sites depends also on the endogenous dynamics among local actors including inhabitants, and tourists. How do local inhabitants integrate heritage preservation and development in their strategies? Which differences and divergences occur among local communities with regard to tourism development? How are conditions for tourism development at World Heritage Sites generated at the local scale? How are tourists implicated in the sustainable development process and how can such practices be extended to the management of World Heritage Sites.
5. SCALES OF WHS DEVELOPMENT
This theme seeks to question the pertinence of specific scales and territories in studying the impacts and and modalities of tourism development at World Heritage Sites. Certain sites effectively present territorial particularities variously defined by their spatial dimensions (as in the case of natural sites), their particular forms which shape routes and itineraries and, their distribution. How can tourism and sustainable development be evaluated with regard to such variations?
Provisional Program
Friday, June 1: arrival and reception of participants
Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 2-4 June: Conference in Libreville
Sunday afternoon: excursion to Pointe Denis
Tuesday, June 5: departure for the Lopé national park.
June 5-7: post-Conference and Workshop in the Lopé
June 7: back to Libreville, overnight in Libreville
Friday, June 8: departure of the participants
Registration to the conference
Researchers, academics, institutional : €150
Students, doctoral students: €100
Registration fees include participation in the Symposium and presentation of a communication, the materials of the Symposium, all meals and coffee breaks from 2 to 4 June, the excursion to Lambarené).
Accommodation
Accommodation during the Symposium is due separately (30-€80 / night depending on the standard of the hotel).
(5 nights in Libreville: June 1st to 4th and June 7th)
Post-Conference
The post-Conference and excursion to the Lopé: €160 (registration includes regular train transport to the Lopé, two nights at the hotel (June 5th and 6th), the meals, the post-Conference materials).
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