Dr Ilaria Pappalepore, and Dr Johannes Novy, Senior Lecturers from the School of Architecture + Cities, are leading a webinar on June 1st dedicated to the future of urban tourism beyond the pandemic.
During the webinar, Dr Pappalepore and Dr Novy will explore the future of urban tourism after COVID-19 with a particular focus on London and Paris, discussing the possible and desirable trajectories of urban tourism in metropolitan cities following the pandemic, as well as the role of planning and governance in shaping these.
The webinar will begin with a presentation of the preliminary results of the research project led by Dr Pappalepore and Maria Gravari-Barbas from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne entitled ‘Metropolitan Tourism in the Wake of COVID-19’, which was funded by the Sustainable Cities and Urban Environment research community. This will be followed by a discussion with SMeT-NET members, external guests and the audience on whether and how the current crisis can be used to steer tourism in a more sustainable and equitable direction.
The researchers are part of the newly-founded Sustainable Metropolitan Tourism Network (SMeT-NET), which will be officially launched during the webinar following the discussion of their preliminary research findings. Following this, a panel discussion will take place featuring professionals that play key roles in London’s tourism sector.
Talking about the event, Dr Ilaria Pappalepore said: “Tourism has been one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic, and this webinar will provide a great chance to bring together industry practitioners and urban tourism experts from the University of Westminster and Sorbonne Université Paris 1, to discuss ways for tourism in London and Paris to ‘bounce forward’ towards a more sustainable and resilient path. During this webinar, we will present the results of recent research conducted by our team, launch the newly-formed SMeT-NET network and facilitate a panel discussion about the future of metropolitan tourism.”
Dr Johannes Novy added: “We are motivated not only by the question of how to help tourism recover, but also how to rethink tourism. One does not have to subscribe to the old cliché that in every crisis lies an opportunity to recognise that this crisis indeed provides a once-in-a-lifetime chance to address tourism’s many long-standing problems from how tourists get to and from destinations to how tourism is managed within destinations and the way its benefits and costs are distributed.
“To seize this opportunity, it is important to have a conversation about what kind of future we want for what not only constitutes one of the world's most important economic sectors but also one of the driving forces of contemporary urban change.”
Sign up to attend the webinar on Eventbrite.
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