Civic Tourism Civic Tourism - The Poetry & Politics of Place Now Available! Civic Tourism: The Poetry & Politics of Place By Dan Shilling, Foreword by Scott Russell Sanders
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Most approaches to alternative tourism, such as ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism, begin with a preservation mission (saving cultures, historic districts, open space) and then "use" the protected resource responsibly to both educate the public and foster economic development.

All of these initiatives are in the place-enhancing business; they often appeal to the same tourist and even use the same rhetoric. However, rarely do we find them at the same table where tourism is concerned. Consequently, each relates to the tourism industry in an episodic, piece-by-piece, project-oriented way, which often renders them relatively toothless.

Place is not just heritage, land, or buildings - it's all three. Civic Tourism shows these sectors how to work together to create a form of tourism that is not project-centered, but which privileges "place" as the main attraction.

Montezuma Castle

The natural environment can't be divorced from the cultural landscape. The Grand Canyon is not just pretty rocks and a river; people lived there, there is a story to tell. Even if the land was never inhabited, the way natural resources look says something about the people who live nearby, as does the built environment.

Thus, the landscape sheds light on the culture, which sheds light on the architecture, which reveals something about the people, and on and on. It's a giant social ecosystem, it's what we call the story of a place.

Now Available! Civic Tourism: The Poetry & Politics of Place By Dan Shilling, Foreword by Scott Russell Sanders

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August 2010 Conference

Civic Tourism III

October 2008 Conference

Civic Tourism II

What Happened at the March 2006 Conference

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Click here to watch Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano's welcome to the first Civic Tourism conference.