Iris Kerst – SmartCulTour

International visitors in Rotterdam

Deja un comentario / General, Rotterdam / Por Iris Kerst

From 1 to 3 June, the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam received an international visit! Representatives of the living labs from Split and Vicenza visited our city as part of the European project SmartCulTour. Within SmartCultour the sustainable development of cultural tourism is central. This development takes place in six European living labs and the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam is one of them.

Exchange

The exchange of knowledge and experience takes place between the living labs in Rotterdam, Split and Vicenza. Between 11 and 13 May the programme manager of the living lab Iris and Joël Ferdinandus of Rotterdam Partners visited the region and the city of Split. Curious about their visit? Read more about their experiences here. Each of the visits focuses on a different theme related to cultural tourism. In Rotterdam the focus was on placemaking, monitoring and benchmarking. The living lab managers and other delegates carried out assignments around these themes and, of course, held various discussions.

To the coast!

On Thursday 2 June, a full day was scheduled. First of all, a visit was paid to the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam, located in Rotterdam South. The lab managers and stakeholders visited the different lab spaces and had the opportunity to ask questions about the ins and outs of the lab. Subsequently, the neighbourhood was introduced using the place exploration & sense making map by colleague Roos Gerritsma. This map gives users who do not have much background information about an area a better idea of it. With the help of questions that stimulate the senses and various assignments, users can form an image and even make recommendations about what should change in a neighbourhood or area in order to get a movement going.

After a morning in Rotterdam Zuid, the participants took the brand-new Hoekse metro line to Hoek van Holland. Hoek van Holland is one of the areas the Rotterdam lab focuses on during SmartCulTour. This coastal area is located 32 km from the centre of Rotterdam but is part of the municipality. After a delicious Dutch lunch, the participants were given a short introduction about the area and the current research by lector Ko Koens, researcher Annemarie van Klaveren and social designer Siobhan Burger. Using the place exploration & sense making map in Hoek van Holland, a better picture was painted of which challenges still exist in this area and ways of monitoring visitors and visitors to this area in a creative and qualitative manner were proposed.

Green & Creativity in Bospolder-Tussendijken

On Friday 3 June, the day will start in a completely different district of Rotterdam, namely Bospolder-Tussendijken. This is also one of the areas that the Rotterdam lab focused on within the framework of SmartCulTour. As a resident of the district, Joël Ferdinandus gave an extensive tour of the district, which borders on the historic Delfshaven district that already attracts many visitors. During the tour, the participants saw that BoTu has a lot to offer: diverse cultural offerings, food and drink from a hundred different countries, greenery and activity. After the tour, the participants discussed the challenges in the district and how this area can attract more cultural tourists in the future.

Valuable knowledge

The exchange has provided many new insights into the field of cultural tourism, visitor management, city marketing and hospitality. These insights will be included in the projects and collaborations that the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam is running.

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A roadmap for Hoek van Holland and Bospolder-Tussendijken

Deja un comentario / General, Rotterdam, Rotterdam nl / Por Iris Kerst

In April and May, stakeholders from Hoek van Holland and Bospolder-Tussendijken worked on a roadmap for both districts. Based on ideas and inspiration from earlier sessions, stakeholders worked to make a timeline more concrete, where interventions aimed at sustainable cultural tourism would be given a logical place. For the time being, the sessions were the last major brainstorming sessions within the framework of the European project SmartCulTour.

SmartCulTour in Rotterdam

The Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam is one of the six living labs participating in the European project SmartCulTour, which is funded by the European Commission within the framework of the H2020 programme. The aim of the living labs is to encourage networking between stakeholders in the tourism sector in order to develop best practices and innovative solutions for sustainable cultural tourism, which can then be shared with other European regions.

In recent months, several meetings have taken place in Hoek van Holland and Bospolder-Tussendijken. Neighbourhoods with great potential for the further development of sustainable cultural tourism. Want to know more about the meetings? Read here the article about the Serious Gaming sessions in the districts.

Hoek van Holland

On 14 April the roadmap session for Hoek van Holland took place in PLSTK-café. The session was a continuation of the previous sessions which focused on tools such as participatory system mapping, house of quality and serious gaming. The aim of the session on 14 April was to create ideas for the development of Hoek van Holland and at the same time to outline potential development paths.

New ideas are often difficult to come up with but are necessary to achieve innovations. We often revert to ideas from the past to try and make something new out of them. However, these ideas are often not very innovative. Wild ideas, on the other hand, can lead to innovations. To get to these wild ideas, the ‘ideation washing machine’ was used during the session. This is a tool that helps stakeholders to think out of the box and come up with wild ideas. Three elements were put in the washing machine, namely; the interventions from the previous sessions, elements that make Hoek van Holland the way it is and things that make the participants happy.

The elements were successfully mixed and worked out within a maximum of five minutes each. This resulted in new ideas, such as

– Various stories and experience routes

– Adding nature and gastro elements to a hip campsite

– Boulevard with balls; a lively boulevard with activities for young and old

– Various dining concepts such as: bunker in the bunker

Next, the stakeholders started working with the ‘Design Roadmapping Tool’. This tool can help areas to make conscious choices by stimulating discussion about:

– Developing types of experiences and what is missing for specific groups

– Timeline and prioritisation of interventions and ideas

– Who within an area, city should have a mandate.

By actually placing the roadmap on a long table, the stakeholders came up with nice timelines. As a follow-up to this session, the researchers involved in SmartCulTour will produce an action report that various participants can elaborate on in order to further perpetuate sustainable cultural tourism in the Hook of Holland.

Bospolder-Tussendijken

On 18 May, the roadmap session in Bospolder-Tussendijken took place at De Fruitvis. The session had the same set-up as the roadmap session in Hoek van Holland. Of course, this time stakeholders from Bospolder-Tussendijken joined the session.

The ‘ideation washing machine’ again produced interesting ideas during this session, such as:

– Route through the neighbourhood – discover the world through the diversity in BoTu

– Best Brewed Beverage Festival – brew or drink delicious drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic)

– BoTu: Bo-Toons – special carrying boards to create new walking lines across the water

– International Electric BBQ Event – driving around electric BBQ event.

What is striking about all the ideas is that they mostly have to do with food and drink or celebrating the cultural diversity of the neighbourhood. These interventions are all fairly small-scale, but they are a better fit with the neighbourhood, where many small entrepreneurs work and where many ideas come from the neighbourhood itself.

The second part of the session was again the application of the ‘Design Roadmapping Tool’. The three timelines that were set out all started with an easy-to-organise event (e.g. coffee crawl), and then developed into larger interventions that require more structural funds and/or infrastructure. The interpretation in terms of responsibilities and mandates differed per group.

Naturally, the researchers will also come up with a concrete action report for this week, with which various stakeholders from Bospolder-Tussendijken can get to work.

Wonderful challenges in Split

Deja un comentario / General, Rotterdam, Rotterdam nl / Por Iris Kerst

From 11 to 13 May, Programme Manager of the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam, Iris Kerst and Joël Ferdinandus from Rotterdam Partners had the opportunity to participate in an exchange within the framework of the European project SmartCultour. Destination: Split! SmartCultour focuses on the sustainable development of cultural tourism. This development takes place in a total of six European living labs and the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam is one of them.

Exchange

Exchange of knowledge and experience takes place between the living labs in Rotterdam, Split and Vicenza. Between 11 and 13 May Iris and Joel visited the region and the city of Split. At the beginning of June, the representatives of the various living labs will travel to Rotterdam, after which the final visit to Vicenza is planned for September. Each of the visits will focus on a different sub-theme related to cultural tourism. During the visit to Split, for example, the focus was on the challenges faced by the various stakeholders in the Croatian lab.

Visit to Sinj

Split is booming! More and more visitors from France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, among others, are finding their way to the place. This results in high visitor numbers. It is predicted that in 2022 Split will receive more tourists than ever before. Researchers from the University of Split, together with stakeholders from Split and the surrounding area, are looking into how to further develop cultural tourism in order to entice visitors to visit other places in the region in the future.

One of these places is Sinj, a village 35 kilometres north of Split. Sinj is mainly known for its church and the painting of the ‘Miraculous Madonna of Sinj’. The painting was made by an unknown painter and dates from the 15th or 16th century. According to the stories, the painting caused the Croatians to win the battle against the Turks in 1715. After that, the Madonna has caused many more miracles. The Madonna is the cause of much religious tourism, since there are many pilgrimages that pass through Sinj.

Sinj is also known for its Sinsjka Alka. An equestrian competition that has been held every first Sunday in August since 1715. The aim of the competition is for the riders to pass their lance through a ring (alka). The riders receive points for this. The contest still attracts thousands of visitors every year. The creation of the Alka museum means that visitors can now learn more about Alka all year round.

Stella Croatica

On Friday 13 May, a visit to Stella Croatica was planned. Stella Croatica is an Experience Centre in Klis where you can experience all things Dalmatian. Artisanal foodstuffs, health and beauty products are produced on the estate. Visitors can see the whole process of developing the products and learn more about the production in the museum. The production is done by local people, which makes Stella Croatica of great local importance.

Stella Croatica is a good example of craftsmanship in its purest form. After the interesting tour, there was a brainstorm with the account manager of Stella Croatica. The brainstorming highlighted the importance of the value of quality. Stella Croatica has good visitor numbers and is thinking about how to continue to combine the growing visitor numbers with good quality products and tours. A great challenge!

Valuable knowledge

Serious Gaming for the future of Hoek van Holland & Bospolder-Tussendijken

Deja un comentario / General, Rotterdam / Por Iris Kerst

At the end of March, stakeholders from Hoek van Holland and Bospolder-Tussendijken played a game to determine which interventions could be applied in the future to further develop cultural tourism in both districts. This game was obviously not just a ‘game’ but a serious game developed within the framework of the European project SmartCulTour.

SmartCulTour in Rotterdam

The Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam / Living Lab Rotterdam is one of the six living labs participating in the European project SmartCulTour, which is funded by the European Commission within the framework of the H2020 programme. The aim of the living labs is to encourage networking between tourism stakeholders in order to develop best practices and innovative solutions for sustainable cultural tourism, which can also be exchanged with other European regions.

Over the past months, several meetings have taken place with Rotterdam stakeholders to identify areas where there are opportunities to further support sustainable cultural tourism. Hoek van Holland and Bospolder-Tussendijken are the areas where a neighbourhood-oriented approach with stakeholders is being used to investigate what is needed to further develop cultural tourism. For example, in both Hoek van Holland and Bospolder-Tussendijken, neighbourhood tours were conducted to identify interesting places in the areas together with stakeholders. In addition, interviews were conducted with stakeholders to get a better idea of what cultural interventions might be of interest.

Hoek van Holland

On 24 March, various stakeholders, namely the municipality, local residents, cultural entrepreneurs and researchers used tools to think about the cultural tourist future of Hook of Holland. The meeting took place in MY Torpedo shed. A piece of cultural heritage, the shed was used for years to store sea mines and torpedoes. Since 2014, the shed has been used as a hotel, restaurant and meeting venue.

The meeting started with the use of the House of Quality tool. This is a tool to reach consensus on (policy) interventions that have the greatest chance of contributing to the wishes of a destination. The tool was used in Hoek van Holland to get more indication about which (policy) intervention has the greatest chance of success when it comes to making Hoek van Holland ‘better’. In addition, the tool helps in making rational decisions.

The ‘needs’ were jointly assessed. How important is accessibility to good jobs?’ or ‘How important is the development of a cultural identity? After rating the needs with a number, the current situation was mapped. How is the accessibility to good jobs at this moment? Subsequently, the stakeholders were asked what type of cultural interventions they considered important, after which the first results of the House of Quality were revealed. For example, the most important intervention that emerged was that there is a strong need in Hoek van Holland to develop »A cultural tourist offer that can attract visitors during the low season.» This intervention is in line with the need of, among others, the municipality of Rotterdam to transform Hoek van Holland into a four-season seaside resort in a sustainable manner.

After the deployment of the House of Quality, the SmartCultour Serious game was used as a tool. The serious game is a hybrid role-playing game that uses a combination of a digital dashboard, a mobile app and physical intervention cards. Players assume the role of regional stakeholders of cultural heritage and try to achieve their goals and needs by creating interventions or supporting someone else’s intervention. The players are of course given roles they do not fulfil in everyday life. This makes for surprising results. In Hoek van Holland, the most important outcome was the need for a practical strategy to achieve the four-season resort in a sustainable way. In the next session on 14 April, the Roadmapping tool will be used to determine together which steps need to be taken.

Bospolder-Tussendijken

One week later, on the border between Bospolder-Tussendijken and Historisch Delfshaven, a meeting was held in which the stakeholders from Bospolder-Tussendijken set to work on interventions for their neighbourhood. At this meeting, too, a diverse range of stakeholders were present: municipal employees, local residents and entrepreneurs. In the library of Altstadt, a theatre and workshop for performing arts in the making, they first used the House of Quality tool together. This made it clear which interventions would have the greatest chance of success in Bospolder-Tussendijken. The most important intervention that emerged was that there is a need in Bospolder-Tussendijken for the development of new products and services in the area of tangible cultural heritage.

With this intervention in mind, the various stakeholders got to work together using the SmartCultour Serious game. The game showed that there is a strong need to bring together a number of existing social but also cultural components in a (public) space. On 18 May, the stakeholders will sit down together again to take the first steps, based on roadmapping, towards making this a reality in the future.

Want to know more about SmartCulTour? Check out the website.

Living Lab Rotterdam: District tours through Rotterdam

Deja un comentario / Rotterdam / Por Iris Kerst

In the past few months Living Lab Rotterdam has organised two online meetings in a small setting. Together with colleagues from various Rotterdam institutions, we determined what cultural tourism in Rotterdam comprises and in which areas there are still opportunities. The meetings showed that the best way to support the development of sustainable cultural tourism is to adopt a neighbourhood-oriented approach. Part of the district-oriented approach are the district tours.

By means of a district tour, during which photographs and notes are made, the unique cultural and historical qualities of subareas and specific districts are recorded on a map. Simultaneously, these tours served to get a qualitative insight in sustainable development challenges for the district, including discussion on if and how tourism could contribute to this development. Ultimately, the district tours yield a geographical map with many details, but also an insight into the current cultural and tourism system and visitor flows. The map includes potential growth opportunities and limitations for entrepreneurs and cultural institutions.

In the online meetings it became clear that the Rotterdam participants had the greatest need to organise district tours in the following districts/areas:

Hoek van Holland
Afrikaanderwijk
Bospolder-Tussendijken

During the tours on three different dates in October, a mixed group of residents, entrepreneurs and researchers joined. Together they (re)discovered pearls in the neighbourhood and discussed what the areas and neighbourhoods were still missing. In a follow-up meeting on 8 November, the various neighbourhood maps will be examined together with policymakers and combined with their policy plans and data. In this setting, next steps for determining policy interventions for one or more districts will be determined.