Smartening up Participatory Cultural Tourism Planning in Historical City Centers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Radical developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) have widely affected urban sectors including cultural tourism. Furthermore, ICT have influenced modern spatial planning practices and have contributed to the advancement of interactive Web-GIS technologies that create new challenges and opportunities for spatial data management and potential for stakeholders’ engagement in planning. The convergence of culture, tourism, and ICT; developments in ICT-enabled planning; and interactive Web-GIS technologies have offered new opportunities for collaborative cultural planning. In such a context, the scope of this paper is to combine ICT-enabled, planning-related principles, cultural mapping, crowdsourcing, data management tools, and spatial models in an integrated framework, serving heritage-led development objectives. Focus is placed on broadening cultural planning perspectives through strengthening stakeholders’ engagement in the process of sustainably managing local assets and designing cultural tourism products that spread benefits to the local economy and reboot development processes. The study attempts to illustrate the added value of mature ICT-enabled approaches, tools, and technologies in the cultural tourism sector, reflecting the increasing smart tourism interest and applications that flourish in a smart city context.