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Overtourism in global cities. Impacts, challenges and solutions

Learn more about the impacts of tourism on cities and explore resilience strategies for destinations.

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CIVIS focus area
Cities, territories and mobilities
Open to
  • Bachelor's
  • Master's
  • PhD
Field of studies
  • Art, Design and Media
  • Business and Management
  • Environment & Agriculture
  • Law
  • Social Science and humanities
  • Environmental sciences, Urbanism, Geography
Type
  • Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
Course dates
1 April - 31 May 2024

The main objective of this course is to reflect and deepen on the new urban tourism dynamics and analyze the negative impacts they are generating in cities, as well as the possible solutions to be implemented to reconcile tourism with the maintenance of the quality of life of residents and the environment.

Main topics addressed

During the course participants will learn how:

  • To analyse the theoretical framework of "overtourism" and the new urban tourist dynamics.
  • To explore the spaces of touristification in cities.
  • To inquiere about the social, economic and cultural transformations generated by overtourism in cities.
  • To evaluate the relationship between tourism and the urban environment.
  • To determine the opinion that the local population has about tourism in those neighborhoods more affected by "overtourism" .

Learning outcomes

The expected learning outcomes are the following:

  • Make students to understand the concept of "overtourism" and the impacts that causes in cities as well as new urban tourist dynamics through theoretical webinars and field trip.
  • Encourage students to meet city’s stakeholders who work closely on aspects related to the "overtourism" and new tourist dynamics.
  • Encourage students to learn to work as a team through the development of collaborative work.
  • To create international teaching-learning networks among CIVIS universities.

 

Dates: 1 April - 31 May 2024 Language: English (B2)
Location: Madrid, Spain ECTS: 3*
Format: Blended Workload: 75 hours
Contact: carmen.hidalgog@uam.es  

*Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university. 

Physical mobility

The physical mobility part will be running from 27 to 31 May 2024 in Madrid.

The physical component of the program will consist of:

  • Field trip: students will spend 5 days in Madrid studying presently different cases connected with the topic of the course (40 hours approximately).
  • Self-working time in Madrid: students will have a specific number of self-working time to develop a final project (15 hours approximately).
  • Projects presentations in Madrid: student will present their project to debate the proposals among the rest of students and teaching staff (5 hours approximately).

Virtual part

The virtual part will be running from 1 April to 26 May 2024.

The virtual part will be configured by a series of webinars that will be given by the participating professors. The objective of these seminars is that the students obtain the necessary theoretical knowledge about the general topic of the course and that they can then apply it to solve a specific problem in the city of Madrid where the physical component of the course will be carried out. In this case, the virtual part would be connected to the outcome: to make students understand the concept of "overtourism" and the new tourism dynamics through theoretical webinars and field trip.

Requirements

This course is open to Bachelor's, Master's and PhD students at CIVIS member universities enrolled in the following fields of study: Geography, Tourism, Environmental Sciences, Urban Planning, Urbanism, Art History, Architecture, or any other fields related. 

The course is open to any type of student's profile. Although obviously students related to the field of tourism and knowledge of the city will be prioritized (students of tourism, geography, history, architecture, etc.)

 

NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility

To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Click here to learn more about the eligibility criteria.

Application process

Interested students should apply by filling in the online application form by 7 November 2023. 

Students will be selected based on the following criteria:

  • Alingment of students' CV with the main topic of the course
  • Motivation letter

Apply here

Assessment

There are two main assessment methods foreseen in the course:

  1. Virtual component: submission and approval of assignments. In each webinar there will be a task (webinar summary, open questions, questionnaire, etc.) that will have to be solved by the students. This way, students will be able to obtain theoretical knowledge that they can later apply during the physical component.
  2. Physical component: elaboration and presentation of a project. Students will have to carry out group work in which, applying the knowledge acquired during the webminars, they will have to solve a real problem related to "overtourism" and the new tourist dynamics in Madrid. it is about working on the resolution of specific problems.

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.

GDPR Consent

The CIVIS alliance and its member universities will treat the information you provide with respect. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information on our privacy practices. By applying to this course you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

  • Carmen Hidalgo Giralt, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
  • Diego Barrado Timón, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
  • Nicolas Maxime, Aix-Marseille Université
  • Carine Fournier, Aix-Marseille Université
  • Sebastien Gadal,Aix-Marseille Université
  • Christian Smigiel, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg
  • Karin Polit, University of Tübingen
  • Benjamin Wayens, Université libre de Bruxelles
  • Cristian Ioja, University of Bucharest