12.00 – 13.00 BST, Zoom Webinar
Tourism and Historic Centres: How to Regulate and Plan Tourism to Safeguard the Heritage Values of Historic Sites
Historic urban centres have important heritage values that justify their inclusion in various legal protection systems. Urban planning instruments allow the preservation of formal aspects (buildings, urban layout…) but are not effective when it comes to preserving intangible heritage values (including uses and functions). In a context of strong growth in tourism (overtourism), the talk presents the situation of the historic centres of Spanish cities (tourism trends and new tourist uses of heritage) and reflects on the scope of overtourism control measures from the field of urban policy and tourism policy.
Maria García-Hernández
María García-Hernández (PhD) is Professor of Human Geography at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). She has a PhD in Geography, a degree in Geography and a degree in Documentation (UC3M). She is the-director of the research group “Tourism, Heritage and Development” (www.ucm.es/geoturis) and the Coordinator of the PhD Programme in Tourism of the Complutense University (tourism and heritage research line). Her researches are focused on: cultural heritage and tourism relationships, cultural tourism, tourism carrying capacity indicators, management of visitor flows in heritage attractions and destinations, tourism observatories, tourism and urban planning and management, urban tourism, and heritage destinations typologies. She has participated in several research projects of competitive calls (EU; National Plan of I+D+i, Regional Governement Madrid, AECID). She has also participated in many research contracts from: Andalusian Heritage Institute, Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History, Ávila, Segovia, Salamanca and Aranjuez City Councils, Group of Spanish Heritage Cities, Alhambra and Generalife Board, Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, Carmona Necropolis Archaeological Site, Madinat Al-Zahra Archaeological Site, TURESPAÑA, etc.
Subproyecto ADAPTATUR-ciudad: https://www.ucm.es/adaptatur/divulgacion-y-difusion
