Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region

Sustainable mobility, including public transport and human-powered slow mobility is a priority for the sustainable development of tourism destinations, but it is a complex challenge to devise, implement and manage. This paper explores the mechanisms and conditions governing transition towards sustai...

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Main Authors: Scuttari, A., Volgger, M., Pechlaner, Harald
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32687
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author Scuttari, A.
Volgger, M.
Pechlaner, Harald
author_facet Scuttari, A.
Volgger, M.
Pechlaner, Harald
author_sort Scuttari, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Sustainable mobility, including public transport and human-powered slow mobility is a priority for the sustainable development of tourism destinations, but it is a complex challenge to devise, implement and manage. This paper explores the mechanisms and conditions governing transition towards sustainable mobility in destinations, using a complexity-based approach. Destinations are understood as complex adaptive systems where social-ecological, socio-technical and socio-political subsystems interact dynamically with the tourism subsystem. These subsystems are interwoven and undergo significant, and inter-related, changes during transition towards more sustainable mobility. Three examples from the tourism intensive Alpine destination of South Tyrol (Italy) illustrate subsystem interactions during the transition process. Key player interview-based qualitative research indicates that the complexity of transition management is rooted particularly in the paired presence of risk aversion among local stakeholders and the unpredictability of visitor flows. Mitigating risk aversion through collective knowledge creation and offering answers to unpredictability by developing a strong adaptive and (re)organisation capacity seem to be required to adjust sustainable mobility solutions to continuous market changes, to convince stakeholders and to guarantee incremental and durable success. The public sector's special role is noted, as are the time demands of transition management, and the value of both formal and informal partnerships.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-326872017-09-13T15:27:38Z Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region Scuttari, A. Volgger, M. Pechlaner, Harald Sustainable mobility, including public transport and human-powered slow mobility is a priority for the sustainable development of tourism destinations, but it is a complex challenge to devise, implement and manage. This paper explores the mechanisms and conditions governing transition towards sustainable mobility in destinations, using a complexity-based approach. Destinations are understood as complex adaptive systems where social-ecological, socio-technical and socio-political subsystems interact dynamically with the tourism subsystem. These subsystems are interwoven and undergo significant, and inter-related, changes during transition towards more sustainable mobility. Three examples from the tourism intensive Alpine destination of South Tyrol (Italy) illustrate subsystem interactions during the transition process. Key player interview-based qualitative research indicates that the complexity of transition management is rooted particularly in the paired presence of risk aversion among local stakeholders and the unpredictability of visitor flows. Mitigating risk aversion through collective knowledge creation and offering answers to unpredictability by developing a strong adaptive and (re)organisation capacity seem to be required to adjust sustainable mobility solutions to continuous market changes, to convince stakeholders and to guarantee incremental and durable success. The public sector's special role is noted, as are the time demands of transition management, and the value of both formal and informal partnerships. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32687 10.1080/09669582.2015.1136634 Routledge restricted
spellingShingle Scuttari, A.
Volgger, M.
Pechlaner, Harald
Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region
title Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region
title_full Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region
title_fullStr Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region
title_full_unstemmed Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region
title_short Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region
title_sort transition management towards sustainable mobility in alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in italy's south tyrol region
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32687