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1 – 10 of over 2000Loai Ali Zeenalabden Ali Alsaid and Charles Anyeng Ambilichu
This study aims to explore the potential dynamics between performance measurement at the organisational level and emerging urban development projects at the macro-institutional…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the potential dynamics between performance measurement at the organisational level and emerging urban development projects at the macro-institutional field level of sustainability governance and accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a theoretical triangulation between three theories, namely contingency theory, institutional theory and social cognitive theory, this study investigates not only the macro-micro dynamics, but also the (recursive) micro-macro dynamics between performance measurement and urban development. Using an Egyptian public sector urban development organisation and its sustainable energy project as an empirical example, interviews, documents and observations were collected.
Findings
The dynamics emerged between field urban development projects and the (unintended) organisational implementation of the performance measurement system, the sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) reporting system. Contributing to previous literature, these dynamics have been institutionalised through (three) interrelated levels: the (macro-field) urban development contingencies and pressures for sustainability KPIs reporting, the (organisational) institutionalisation of the urban development performance measurement system and then the (micro-organisational) cognitive role of sustainability KPIs reports in (re)making political urban development decisions.
Research limitations/implications
This study faced some limitations that paved the way for future research axes. For political and security reasons, difficulties were encountered in conducting interviews with government actors in the sustainable energy project under study. Also, due to the practical separation of the environmental sustainability system from the sustainability KPIs reporting system in this case study, environmental sustainability is outside the scope.
Practical implications
Sustainability reports may influence public sector decision-making processes in a specific urban development context. These KPIs reports may also increase public sector management opportunities for urban auditing, transparency, accountability and sustainability governance. These KPIs may also guide public sector management to lower prices in poor villages to increase smart energy consumption and improve community health.
Social implications
Sustainability reports may increase decision-makers' understanding of consumer behaviours and societal changes. This may help in making appropriate political decisions to improve their welfare and regular smart energy consumption. Not only urban citizens, but this social advantage may also extend to urban development employees through employees' promotion, training and access to government-funded academic and professional scholarships.
Originality/value
This study is an attempt to develop current public sector performance measurement analyses in the emerging urban development field using a triadic analytical approach. This study also fed the literature with an extended case study that clarified the (multi-level) and (two-way) dynamics between performance measurement and urban development.
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Rafael Robina-Ramírez, Ángel Pizarro-Polo, José A. Folgado-Fernández and Agustín Santana-Talavera
The heritage and tourist attractiveness of Heritage Cities have aroused interest in establishing mechanisms to enhance their value based on the development of sustainability…
Abstract
Purpose
The heritage and tourist attractiveness of Heritage Cities have aroused interest in establishing mechanisms to enhance their value based on the development of sustainability policies. The socioeconomic and socioenvironmental valuation of these heritage sites has become a necessary tool for decision-making.
Design/methodology/approach
Following the recommendations of International Council on Monuments and Sites – ICOMOS, this paper proposes a series of indicators and an exploratory model to define the factors that contribute to their valuation. Following the partial least squares structural equation modelling methodology, information was obtained from 363 intramural residents in the three Heritage Cities that currently have management plans in Spain.
Findings
The results show the importance of specifying indicators of sustainable mobility and socioeconomic and socioenvironmental sustainability for an adequate valorisation of heritage sites.
Originality/value
To this end, it is necessary to follow the guidelines of international bodies such as ICOMOS in relation to the management plans.
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Moureen Asaad, Ghada Farouk Hassan, Abeer Elshater and Samy Afifi
Several initiatives have taken part in the sustainability assessment tools, especially on the neighbourhood scale. These tools have been developed as neighbourhood sustainability…
Abstract
Purpose
Several initiatives have taken part in the sustainability assessment tools, especially on the neighbourhood scale. These tools have been developed as neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools (NSATs) in global and local settings. Despite the widespread use of NSATs over the last two decades, research on NSATs in Global South cities is currently limited. This review article synthesizes literature themes and provides research priorities for NSATs.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a systematic review of 48 research articles on NSATs in cities of the Global South, conducted and reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. A thematic synthesis of 18 articles was reviewed using content analysis to provide a thematic classification and research priorities that outline approaches and actions for implementation.
Findings
The results revealed five themes of NSATs for research tackling cities in the Global South, with one dominant theme related to case study-based frameworks and tools. The findings indicate a high level of affiliation contribution and research content focus within the Asian continent compared to the African continent and MENA region.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the bibliometric analysis of where the current body of research stands in NSATs. The added value highlights research priorities based on themes, spatial regions and tools.
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José A. Folgado-Fernández, Nuria Huete-Alcocer, Ricardo Hernández-Rojas and Ona Vileikis
Conserving appropriately the culture and heritage of a city through sustainable tourism is a key element for its economic development. Heritage cities generate economic, social…
Abstract
Purpose
Conserving appropriately the culture and heritage of a city through sustainable tourism is a key element for its economic development. Heritage cities generate economic, social and environmental benefits through tourism management. This study aims to intend, in the context of economic sustainability of the territory and promotion, to improve the understanding of the relationship between the sources of information of tourists and their motivations, with satisfaction and future behaviour intentions. For this, a study has been carried out in the Old Town of Cáceres (Spain), a city recognised as a world heritage property by UNESCO.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies a descriptive analysis, based on frequencies. For data collection, a structured questionnaire has been used to identify the opinion of tourists during their visit to the heritage city of Cáceres.
Findings
This study demonstrates the existence of a positive relationship between the sources of information and the tourist experience with their future behavioural intentions and satisfaction of their visit. All this in the global context of the destination for sustainable economy and the UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that the motivations of tourists are the most important factor in explaining the overall experience and loyalty of tourists to a city.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation of this study is the data set used. The results must be contextualised at the time and place when the questionnaire was conducted.
Practical implications
The proposed model makes it possible to advance future heritage tourism strategies, in terms of planning and communication of the heritage resources of a destination. Tourism heritage institutions should increasingly invest in communication improvements based on new technologies and social media. At the same time, integrated planning with special policies for the sustainable protection of heritage can make important progress in the tourist and cultural development of the destination.
Originality/value
This article tests for the first time within the context of heritage cities in Spain and in the context of a sustainable economy and cultural heritage for destination, the relationship between different sources of site promotion information and future tourist behaviour intentions. It provides original evidence of the value of applying the underlying theory of the proposed model in a world heritage tourist destination.
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Chung Shing Chan and Wan Yan Tsun
This study aims to propose resident-based brand equity models on green, creative and smart development themes through a multi-sample telephone survey on Hong Kong residents (n …
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose resident-based brand equity models on green, creative and smart development themes through a multi-sample telephone survey on Hong Kong residents (n = 751).
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopted a quantitative approach with a round of questionnaire-based survey carried out anonymously on adult citizens who have stayed in Hong Kong for more than one year. Telephone survey was performed by a professional survey research centre with trained interviewers between May and July 2022.
Findings
The study identifies the magnitude of these city brand equity attributes and reconfigured their composition under separate samples of Hong Kong residents. The results reveal the relatively stronger brand equity for developing Hong Kong as a smart city brand compared with green and creative branding.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings might carry a major limitation of varied interpretations and stereotypes of each city theme (green, creative and smart) by local residents. To minimize the expected bias, two core questions were added to provide respondents with information on each theme before the main survey questions. The questions’ wording was also simplified to ensure the constraint and inconsistency of layman effect.
Practical implications
The common attributes across the themes, including distinctiveness, uniqueness, confidence, positive image, liveability, long-term residence, feature familiarity and top-of-mind, indicate the most prominent aspects of brand equity formation and enhancement. Since urban sustainability does not follow a single path of strategies and infrastructure development, city brand process should also follow a selective approach, which clearly identifies a multiplicity of local interests that could create the best outcomes and the strongest brand equity for the city.
Originality/value
The factor allocation and regression analysis elucidate different configurations of the determining factors with a three-factor model for green city brand equity and two-factor models for the other ones. The findings encore some previous studies supporting the differentiation between common attributes and distinctive attributes, and the overlapping approach to unleash the strongest integration of attributes of brand equity.
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Anna Visvizi, Radosław Malik, Gianluca Maria Guazzo and Vilma Çekani
Against the background of the I50 paradigm, this paper queries in what ways blockchain and blockchain-based applications deployed in the smart city context facilitate the…
Abstract
Purpose
Against the background of the I50 paradigm, this paper queries in what ways blockchain and blockchain-based applications deployed in the smart city context facilitate the integration of the I50 paradigm in smart urban contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed methods approach is applied. First, by means of desk research and thematic literature review, a conceptual model integrating the I50 paradigm, smart city and blockchain-based solutions is built. Second, science mapping bibliometric analysis (SciMat) based on keywords’ co-occurrence is applied to a sample of 491 research articles to identify key domains of blockchain-based applications’ use in smart city. Third, a semi-systematic literature review complements insights gained through SciMat. Fourth, the findings are interpreted through the precepts of the conceptual model devised earlier.
Findings
The key blockchain-based applications in smart cities pertain to two domains, i.e. the foundational, service facilitation-oriented domain, including security (and safety), networks, computing, resource management and the service delivery-oriented domain, including mobility, energy and healthcare. Blockchain serves as the key building block for applications developed to deliver functions specific to each of the thus identified domains. A substantial layering of blockchain-based tools and applications is necessary to advance from the less to the more complex functional domains of the smart city.
Originality/value
At the conceptual level, the intricacies of the (making of the) I50 paradigm are discussed and a case for I50 – smart city – blockchain nexus is made. Easton’s input–output model as well as constructivism is referenced. At the empirical level, the key major domains of blockchain-based applications are discussed; those that bear the prospect of integrating the I50 paradigm in the smart city are highlighted. At the methodological level, a strategic move is made aimed at restoring the literature review’s role as subservient to the key line of exploration, to justify and ultimately support it, rather than to showcase the literature review as the ultimate purpose for itself.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the metaverse platform in a social context to better understand the future of this tool in tourism cities and how this can help to improve…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the metaverse platform in a social context to better understand the future of this tool in tourism cities and how this can help to improve the well-being of residents in both digital and physical scenarios.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the current and probable developments in the metaverse, and its use in tourism cities and companies have been investigated. Moreover, this study develops, collects and examines the main metaverse definitions by expert authors and organizations as a methodology to ensure the transparency and credibility of the metaverse analysis.
Findings
Findings suggest that the fusion of the metaverse and tourism cities must create residents’ services and experiences in the new MetaTourPolis to help interact and connect citizens with the city’s institutions and companies, as well as make tourism cities more attractive, innovative, environmentally friendly and healthier places to live. Metaverse will bring new changes for residents and tourists, in fact, this virtual platform is already changing and improving the residents’ quality of life and people with disabilities in tourism cities. For instance, the metaverse platform has been implemented in Seoul, Santa Monica and Dubai MetaTourPolis to interact with their residents, including people with disabilities, to resolve bureaucratic and administrative problems, avoiding this group and the rest of the residents travelling by bus or car to the city’s institutions. In addition, several metaverse applications based on softbot tutors or metaverse virtual social centres have been developed to improve blind and impaired people, and elderly people’ quality of life, respectively.
Originality/value
A new concept called “MetaTourPolis” has been included to stage the relationship between tourism cities and the metaverse platform, where the fusion of metaverse and the new tourism polis of the 21st century will be at the service of citizens, tourists and companies, to create more sustainable, efficient, quantitative and environmental tourism cities.
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Social sciences have discussed the host–guest relation from many theoretical lenses and perspectives. Violence as well as local crime has been studied as one of the major risks…
Abstract
Purpose
Social sciences have discussed the host–guest relation from many theoretical lenses and perspectives. Violence as well as local crime has been studied as one of the major risks concerning tourism security. Anyway, less attention was given to homeless people and their interaction with foreign or local tourists. The purpose of this paper is oriented to explain how globalization has winners and losers, in which case, as noted, thousands of persons are excluded from the formal labor marketplace or the economic system year by year.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that discusses critically not only the recent advances of sociology in urban tourism but also the connection between homeless people and tourists.
Findings
There is an urban underclass formed by those who have been excluded from the economic system. What is more important, such an underclass situates nearby luxury hotels and tourist destinations creating serious contradictions or zones of disputes. These contradictions have been approached by different sociologists since the turn of the 20th century.
Research limitations/implications
The question of sustainability, as well as the idea of liveable cities, and the efficient organization of the city, have occupied a central position in the academic debate, above all after the COVID-19 pandemic. In the present paper, the authors put in dialogue the contributions of Marc Auge with Zyggy Bauman toward a new understanding of this postmodern phenomenon.
Originality/value
Based on the metaphor of vagabonds and tourists, we give a snapshot of the problem of homelessness in Buenos Aires city and its effects on the tourism industry. Unlike other English-speaking countries where the cities are actively organized by the state, Buenos Aires city lacks a planned program to regulate and relocate homeless people. They dwell in nonplaces nearby tourists sleeping in the streets near luxury hotels (but for sure escaping any planning or governmental control).
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Filippo Marchesani and Francesca Masciarelli
This study aims to investigate the synergies between the economic environment and the smart living dimension embedded in the current smart city initiatives, focusing on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the synergies between the economic environment and the smart living dimension embedded in the current smart city initiatives, focusing on the localization of female entrepreneurship in contemporary cities. This interaction is under-investigated and controversial as it includes cities' practices enabling users and citizens to develop their potential and build their own lives, affecting entrepreneurial and economic outcomes. Building upon the perspective of the innovation ecosystems, this study focuses on the impact of smart living dimensions and R&D investments on the localization of female entrepreneurial activities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and a panel dataset that considers 30 Italian smart city projects for 12 years to demonstrate the relationship between smart living practices in cities and the localization of female entrepreneurship. The complementary effect of public R&D investment is also included as a driver in the “smart” city transition.
Findings
The study found that the advancement of smart living practices in cities drives the localization of female entrepreneurship. The study highlights the empirical results, the interaction over the years and a current overview through choropleth maps. The public R&D investment also affects this relationship.
Practical implications
This study advances the theoretical discussion on (1) female entrepreneurial intentions, (2) smart city advancement (as a context) and (3) smart living dimension (as a driver) and offers valuable insight for governance and policymakers.
Social implications
This study offers empirical contributions to the preliminary academic debate on enterprise development and smart city trajectories at the intersection between human-based practices and female entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This study offers empirical contributions to the preliminary academic debate on enterprise development and smart city trajectories at the intersection between human-based practices and female entrepreneurship. The findings provide valuable insights into the localization of female entrepreneurship in the context of smart cities.
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This paper aims to check if destinations with powerful similarities also show similar tourism/overtourism effects that differentiate them from other destinations. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to check if destinations with powerful similarities also show similar tourism/overtourism effects that differentiate them from other destinations. This paper gathers and compares data on overtourism in European historic cities already presented in the existing literature and points out features and problems typical for these destinations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper was based on the systematic literature review method, which allowed the author to indicate the most commonly studied European historic cities and the characteristics of overtourism problems.
Findings
The results of this study reveal that several European historic cities share similar tourism development patterns and the overtourism problems manifest numerous similarities. Significantly, these problems are characteristic of historic cities only and partially different from those observed in European urban destinations such as metropolises.
Research limitations/implications
This study enhances a proper understanding of overtourism and the contradictory results published in the existing literature. This study is the first step in building a more situational approach to overtourism and adjusting the theory to particular destinations' features.
Practical implications
The outcome of this study offers local policymakers several hints regarding effectively facing the overtourism problems. Historic cities require special attention when actions toward lowering extreme tourism pressure in monumental zones are implemented and residents' concerns about the spread of tourism, including short-term listings, to residential quarters need to be addressed.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study based on a comparison of similar destinations aimed to develop theory and practical implications devoted purely to a limited number of destinations sharing numerous similarities. The set of coherent theoretical and practical implications designed for a narrow group of cities is to be an essential contribution to the development of research and practice in urban tourism.
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