20518 - CITIES, CULTURAL TOURISM AND URBAN LIFE

We live in the 'Urban Century' and cities are places where various economic, social, cultural, and environmental issues interact. Although tourism is frequently viewed as less important to cities than other economic activities, it has played a major role in the development and redevelopment of cities around the globe. Within this context, the role of cultural, recreational and tourism activities for contemporary cities and urban life needs to be sized and understood. As a matter of fact, cities catalyze cultural and social innovation and are among the fastest growing tourism destinations worldwide. The high competition among cities to attract tourist flows and capitalize on tourism spending requires that decision makers adopt effective strategies of destination management and branding and calls for community engagement and smart approaches. In addition, the growing relevance of urban places as tourism destinations may have side effects and, in any case, it has implications in terms of urban management and planning. The mission of the course is to analyze the vital, and in some cases controversial, relationship between cities and tourism and to acquire specific competencies and tools for planning and managing a sustainable tourism development of urban areas.

The main contents of the workshop are:

• The global relevance of cities and of urban tourism investments in the contemporary world.
• Trends of urban tourism (e.g. experiential and lifestyle tourism, cultural and creative tourism, event tourism, smart tourism).
• Regeneration and renovation projects through tourism in large and small urban settings
• Key principles and issues in tourism urban governance and management.
• City branding.
• Pros and cons of urban tourism: managing the impacts of the ‘consumer city’.

• Know and interpret how tourism, culture, and entertainment have transformed urban centers during the recent decades.
• Understand how the investments of the tourism industry shape urban contexts.
• Acquire competences of city branding.
• Identify key characteristics and trends of diverse urban tourism segments (supply and demand).
• Evaluate the impacts of tourism on cities and identify proper respones.

• Adopt proper strategic approaches and tools to assess and promote the tourism potential of cultural assets and creative industries in urban regions.
• Identify and address relevant tourism segments for specific urban districts.
• Apply appropriate tools of destination management and governance.
• Apply appropriate tools of city branding.
• Deal with first-hand critical issues in the tourism promotion and management of relevant cultural assets and events in an urban area.
• Develop feasible tourism projects for a city in collaboration with tourism companies/insitutions.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Company visits
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments

The course is based on a mix of face-to-face lectures, guest speakers’ speeches and company visits, and group assignments. The mix enables students to apply concepts to real-life situations. As such, students gain the most from class participation.

• Guest Speakers' talks and company visits provide students the opportunity to get in touch with leaders of the sector and confront on specific policy and managerial challenges faced by tourism professionals and decision makers.
• Case studies and class discussions are fundamental to achieve a better knowledge of the topics covered within the course and ensure a proper understanding of different issues. They support the students in achieving better interaction in class and develop critical thinking over the course topics. 
• A field project (group assignement) is developed through the course and submitted at the end of the semester. Students work on a concrete tourism case and develop a proposal to address related key issues. A practical approach supports the ability of students in applying the best methodology and achieving successful strategies.

With the purpose of measuring the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, the students’ assessment is based on two main components:

• Final written exam (60%)
• Group field project (40%)

The written exam consists in essay questions referring to the concepts, models and cases discussed in class. Essay questions test students' ability to apply broad concepts and principles related to urban tourism discussed in class, as well as students' ability to generalise, analyse and support arguments with evidence both from the literature and from concrete cases.

The field project is an opportunity to tackle first-hand critical issues in tourism and it consists of developing a real tourism project. This allows to verifiy (a) the ability of students in applying the knowledge acquired in class, (b) their ability to develop a feasible tourism project and (c) to present it effectively. 

Please note:

• Both evaluations must be sufficient (grade ≥ 18).
• Attending students must take the exam by January 2023.

The assessment method for non-attending students is based on a final exam in written form. It will be made up of open-ended and multiple-choice questions referring to the concepts, models and cases contained in the textbooks and exam materials. The open-ended and multiple-choice questions are mainly aimed at verifying learning of the analytical and management abilities and their correct comprehension. 

The reading list is provided in the syllabus at the beginning of the course and it is a mix of papers from academic journals, reports, and slides.

In accordance with intellectual property rights rules, different materials are available in different ways:

• On the Bocconi Bboard platform of the course
• On the ad hoc web course reserve, provided by the Library

The reading list is provided in the syllabus at the beginning of the course. It consists of textbooks.