An integrated swot-pestle-ahp model assessing sustainability in adaptive reuse projects

In the recent past, sustainable development has been considered a major issue for urban and regional studies. Adaptive reuse appears to be a practical solution for sustainable urban development. Beyond and in addition to a conceptual base consistent with circular economy and sustainability principles, how do we know if adaptive reuse is actually sustainable, provided that it constitutes a multidisciplinary and multilevel process? The present study aims at evaluating, in as much as feasible quantitative terms, adaptive reuse practices sustainability. This was attained using a set of indicators, developed combining PESTLE (the Political, Economic, Technical, Social, Legal, and Environmental aspects) and SWOT (the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) approaches, of which the results were subjected to evaluation by experts (pairwise comparisons), following the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The indicators representing strengths and opportunities of the process were calculated to be of higher value (overall level of final cumulative indicators values; 70.4%) compared with indicators representing weaknesses and threats. Enhancing strengths and opportunities and counteracting weaknesses and threats contribute making the potential of adaptive reuse practices in urban sustainability more evident. Among analysis dimensions, political and economic aspects rank first, followed by environmental, socio-cultural, technological-technical, and legal aspect. The empirical results of this paper serve as a useful reference point for decision-making and policy formulation addressing adaptive reuse practices in sustainable development strategies

Aspects of sustainability in the destination branding process: a bottom-up approach

The concept of sustainability is based on the premise that the inhabitants of a destination should be involved in the way that destination is managed and promoted. At the same time, the literature of place branding emphasizes the important role of local stakeholders in the creation of a true and reliable place brand. In fact, the process of developing a destination brand begins with the aim of shaping the identity of a destination; what the destination stands for. The sustainable dimensions of the destination branding process are explored, while focus groups and structured questionnaires are used to evaluate the usefulness of projection techniques in the process of building a brand identity. It seems that the use of the personification technique could work as an effective destination positioning exercise and as an alternative proposal to the outdated clichés used in tourism promotion

Regional perspectives on tourism geographies: The case of Greece

The aim of this chapter is to provide a holistic overview of issues and topics regarding tourism geography in Greece: from its origins to its current situation. By following a historical tracking of tourism activities in this country and the growth of tourism geography as an academic domain at the university level, the main goal is to analyze the shift of academic research on tourism from geographical perspective, as presented in both the Greek and English language literature. The chapter concludes that there is a need for practical orientation and redefinition of typologies of tourism geographies in order to apply a more sustainable and cross-disciplinary approach in the academic discourse on Greek tourism. © 2013 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited

NEW FORMS OF GEOGRAPHICAL INEQUALITIES AND SPATIAL PROBLEMS IN GREECE

The dynamics of the restructuring of capital over the last fifteen years produced new territorial realities. One fundamental aspect of this evolution, in the case of Greece, is the relative decrease of interregional inequalities and the strengthening and/or appearance of new intraregional disparities. A second group of developments consist of the intensification of a series of spatial organisation problems that affect both urban and nonurban areas (land-uses' conflicts, environmental conditions, traffic). As far as the future is concerned, the determinant framework of the 1990s will be the process of European unification. Although the implications of the spatial dimension (regional policy, environmental policy, projected urban policy) of the EC policies will generally be beneficial, the broader implications of the above process seem much more ambivalent. The main fields of concern are: difficulties in the participation of Greek regions in the emerging Mediterranean arc of development; retardation of growth in rural areas (as a result of the new CAP) and the increase of intraregional inequalities; and aggravation of the conditions in the fields of land uses and the urban environment (because of the increasing competition between the southern European regions, and between the European cities)