Project description: Travel and tourism can be forces for good: opening minds, building understanding, creating jobs, supporting social development and motivating authorities to invest in conservation. However, tourism’s negative effects - environmental, economic, social, political, cultural - are also undeniable and long before the outbreak of Covid-19 have been driving industry reflection on the ethos and practices of tourism. Climate crisis, pandemic risk, legacies of colonialism and damage caused by over-tourism cannot be ignored. For a growing number of providers, “business as usual” is no longer an option.

An Urgent Situation proposes that architects and creatives can play an important role in rethinking tourism; by acting with care and concern, they can propel critical changes in the industry’s infrastructure. This project will test this proposal in theory and practice. It will ask what the futures of tourism might be, and how creative people can help transform the often negative relationships between the tourist industry, tourists themselves, and the communities and places that form popular travel destinations.

The project will look at the present-day ideologies and practices of both architecture and tourism. It will consider the meeting points of these disciplines, including issues such as global health and hygiene, carbon emissions, and impacts on local communities, cultures and ecosystems. It will identify points for action, building a speculative multi-disciplinary model for a positive, inclusive, sustainable, resilient future tourism and the role of architects and creatives within it.

Type: online lectures

Year: 2021

Collaborators: Praksis Oslo, Don Lawrence, Tanja Thorjussen, Samong Haven Bali