CONTRASTING THE BANALISATION OF TOURISM. Architectural, landscape and micro-urbanistic design of an accommodation facility in the Azores

XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife DOI: https://doi.org/10.5821/siiu.12712 1 CONTRASTING THE BANALISATION OF TOURISM Architectural, landscape and micro-urbanistic design of an accommodation facility in the Azores Matteo Zampolini Architect/Engineer matteo.zampo[email protected]om ABSTRACT Following the pandemic, tourism dynamics resumed in a compulsive form in response to the physical and social segregation during the covid-19 period. Mass forms of tourism, which stifle and alter local balances, often lead to trivialising outcomes. Following the analysis of these phenomena and the choice of a reference context, a project was drawn up on an urban, landscape and architectural scale as a hypothesis of an alternative model for tourist use. The intention is to see local specificities reworked in a contemporary key, with a view to the inclusion of the local population, with a space that is articulated between public and private, guaranteeing the permeability of the lot. Integration that also takes place from an ecosystem perspective, with agricultural and landscape techniques that attempt to integrate with the territorial dimension of the Azores, on the island of São Miguel. Keywords: trivialising tourism, landscape, micro-urbanism, architecture Thematic cluster: 3. Urban Dynamics. Topic: Tourism XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife 1. Introduction Compulsive' tourism, understood as a reaction to the physical and social segregation that occurred during the pandemic period, has consolidated and emphasised new scenarios for tourist resorts, which are subjected to increasing flows of visitors, often higher than the volumes recorded before 2020. In this context, strategies to contain the dynamics of homologation and trivialisation of the tourist offer, which are a direct consequence of mass tourism, must be evaluated. This must be done in a planning perspective that takes into account the specificities of places and that, with the articulation of the supply systems, is able to satisfy the strong segmentation of the tourist demand, integrating the forms of fruition with the protection and enhancement of the specificities of territorial resources. This can be pursued by paying new attention to the role played by public space, in order to prefigure new receptive spaces and new forms of tourist use, aimed at including the local population, taken both as the addressee of the new spaces generated and as the main beneficiary of the relations and opportunities for growth, linked to tourism development. The initial assumption from which the study theme starts is that tourism is for many countries the driving economic sector of the current century: a real industry with a strong economic weight that modifies uses and modes of enjoyment of localities subject to tourist flows. (D'ERAMO, 2019) These massive presences of visitors generate problems for places and local communities, subjecting the heritage (material and immaterial) and local resources to risks arising from the forms of consumption, the anthropic pressure exerted, as well as the homologation of the system of tourist-accommodation offer. In this context, the hypothesis outlined is that tourism demand has become considerably segmented over the last few decades, while the supply systems have become progressively more standardised: the trivialisation of forms of tourist fruition is nothing other than the direct consequence of a banal, often monothematic supply, which leads to a serious loss of value in terms of both experience and perception of the place. While it is assumed that the opposite is also true: a varied tourist offer based on the enhancement of local specificities leads to the generation of multiple forms of enjoyment that positively qualify the location in question. In order to have a tangible example with a view to limiting these phenomena and to avoid a generalised outcome (which could fall into a homologising perspective), the field is narrowed down by taking as a geographical reference the context of the Azores, a Portuguese Autonomous Region subjected to increasing tourist flows, especially after the liberalisation of low-cost air traffic as of 2014. With the objective of understanding the phenomenon on a local basis, we start from an evaluation of tourism dynamics throughout history, highlighting how, over the centuries (and unlike today), the location has mobilised specific niches of demand: from commercial tourism in colonial times, to nature tourism in the 19th century, passing through health/spa tourism in the 20th century, arriving at today's dynamics of tourism homologated to global market dynamics, characterised by trivialising and sometimes unsuccessful approaches. At the same time, an attempt is made to grasp local specificities, in terms of human settlement, landscape and in general the relationship and use of the land. Analyses and considerations preparatory to the drafting of an integrated project in the local context, generating economic and social value, which can contribute to the vitality and enhancement of the project site. This also through the integration of the structuring matrices of the landscape, understood as the outcome of interaction between the physical/spatial and social/anthropic dimensions. XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife 2. Trivialising tourism 2.1. Historical overview of tourism dynamics Tourism, as we know it today, is an invention of the 19th century, which then evolved to the boom of the 20th century, up to the massified dimension we experience today. The origins, however, have roots in earlier historical moments. Historically, the dimension of travel was functional: discovery of new places and resource deposits, military campaigns, commercial purposes, diplomatic journeys, pilgrimages. The dimension of travel as a cognitive experience of the world and other cultures on a widespread scale originated towards the end of the 16th century, when young people of the nobility were prescribed and reserved the possibility of undertaking a journey for 'pleasure and education'. This type of journey over the next two centuries became increasingly popular in European aristocratic society and particularly in the 18th century when it became almost a duty to undertake it, it took on the name of Grand Tour. The importance of this type of experience was not only the cultural capital, but also the symbolic and relational capital that derived from it: the need for economic capital and social capital were important prerogatives to be able to undertake such a journey, the consequence was therefore the perception of a distinct person in the eyes of society. The following century, the 19th century, was characterised by great progress in the field of transport with the implementation of railways and steam navigation, extending the possibility of travel to a much wider segment of the population, creating fertile ground for the birth of tourism as we conceive it today. It was at this stage that the first forms of tourist guidance came into being in the form of travellers' guides: compared to the Grand Tour manuals that described how to travel, in this case the where, how to get there and the cost involved were indicated, gradually removing from travel the value of discovering the unexpected. After an initial phase in which tourism was born as a form of pursuit by the bourgeoisie against the Grand Tour practice of the nobility, this dynamic of pursuit and affirmation of one's own cultural capital over the other was extended to the comparison between the various bourgeoisie strata. Comparison that in turn made the leap to lower strata of the population with the introduction of the right to paid holidays, with the twentieth century emerging as the century of the massification of tourism. The phenomenon of the extension of tourism to the masses was in fact subject to great acceleration during the 20th century with the further evolution of transport: first in the 1950s and 1960s with the spread of the utilitarian car and then with the introduction of air travel as widespread transport, particularly in the 1990s with low-cost flights. More and more people found themselves with the possibility of travelling at affordable prices and with ever greater range of action. The dynamics of hitand-run tourism became normalised to the exasperation of today, with masses of tourists from everywhere. (D'ERAMO, 2019) 2.2. Tourism massification leading to trivialising dynamics In this globalised and standardised dimension, the tourist becomes more and more homogenised, both in terms of places visited and in terms of modes of enjoyment. Over time, the tourist has been increasingly subjected to being directed to 'where' to look, a sort of finger that must guide the gaze of those who, through lack of knowledge or confusion, do not know where to direct it. This form of uncritical enjoyment of the places visited leads the tourist to a certain degree of passivity compared to the active travellers of the past. Rather than a search and curiosity for discovery, the prototype of the modern tourist waits for interesting things to happen to him, to be served to him on a silver platter. This generates an expectation for the tourist linked to the image he prefigures after seeing it represented before visiting the destination of interest, which defines a subjective (but at the same time homologated) vision of authenticity of a place or an experience. This greatly influences the places themselves, which, also with a view to perceived economic advantage, pander to these modes of enjoyment, changing their uses and according to the external perception of the places, in a picturesque representation of what the tourist expects. Dynamics that extend to the point that some of these XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife destinations are transformed in their entirety to serve tourism. But can an entire city be appropriated by tourism? Nowadays we all witness cities with a purely tourist vocation, which are called, precisely, tourist cities. But what defines such a city? One of the numerical factors that we tend to take into account is precisely the number of tourists visiting the city. In particular, where the number of annual visitors exceeds the local population, we speak of a tourist city. Looking at this data, one can see numerous examples of realities that have emerged as a function of tourism or that have exaggerated characteristics perceived as important for the growth of local tourism. One of the most well-established is Las Vegas: a city notoriously linked to gambling and nightlife, where almost all the inhabitants are linked to the gaming tourism market, as is the development of the city itself, as witnessed by the numerous hotels/casinos that often imitate architectural elements of historic tourist resorts. Other examples of localities that are 'touristised' with trivialising results are some of those certified as UNESCO heritage sites: with this type of global exposure, it happens that the dynamics of homologation with respect to the tourist's expectation prevail over the local specificities that guaranteed recognition in the first place (see: Lijiang, China). (D'ERAMO, 2019) Moving down the scale, one of the most exaggerated examples can be identified in the town of Júzcar in Spain. This Andalusian town was the set of the Smurfs film, for which the typical white houses were momentarily painted blue during filming. The local citizens, seeing the resonance this event had, decided to take ownership of this new identity, leaving the new colour on the façades and becoming the 'Smurfs' village' on a permanent basis. This can be interpreted as a work of land art for its singularity or an added value for the business it generated, but if one looks at the statistics on the influx of tourists, the numbers speak for themselves: before the Smurfs, there were about 300 visits a year, while the first half of the following year saw more than 80,000 tourists visit this small village of 223 inhabitants. 1 An authentic tourist overwhelm, with an outsized ratio of fixed to temporary population, which begs the question: is this the model to be pursued? Fig. 01 Júzcar 'Village of the Smurfs', Spain. Source: https://www.pinterest.es 1 Data from Instituto Nacional de Estadística, http://www.ine.es XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife 3. The context 3.1. Azorean territory Consisting of nine islands of volcanic origin, the Autonomous Region of the Azores has a total population of 236,413 (2021 census) 2 . It is an archipelago located in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, between Europe and North America, at a latitude ranging from 36°55' to 39°44' and a longitude between 25° and 31°. It is one of the island groups that, together with the Canary Islands, Madeira and Cape Verde, form Macaronesia. The distribution of the archipelago is very wide, with considerable distances between the islands, reaching a total extension in the North West - South East direction of about 600 km. The archipelago is divided into three subgroups of islands, depending on their proximity to each other: the Western group (Corvo and Flores), the Central group (Faial, Pico, São Jorge, Graciosa and Terceira) and the Eastern group (São Miguel and Santa Maria). (SILVA FIGUEREDO, 2019) Geologically speaking, the location of the islands is very special, being at the triple junction point, where the margins of three tectonic plates intersect: North American, Eurasian and African. This particular condition amply justifies the volcanic origins that have led to the formation of a unique natural landscape, characterised by mountains, plateaus, craters and fajãs 3 ; in general, corrugations of the terrain that have favoured the development of a great variety of ecosystems, some of which are characteristic and exclusively found on these islands. Lush vegetation made up of intense greens, which contrasts chromatically with the rocks, inorganic components that bear witness to volcanic activity with their black to red hues, as well as their chemical structure. Hostile environments to which the local population has had to adapt, with architectural and landscape solutions, which today represent a characteristic landmark, with the use of volcanic rocks as a characterising element. (CALDAS, 2000) The man-made rural landscape of the Azores is configured as a network of closed fields, mainly quadrangular in shape, varying from irregular and elongated configurations to chequered patterns of regular squares. The declinations are manifold, as are the functions that walls perform: in addition to the purely formal division of legal value to define the boundary between properties, walls in this context also act as windbreaks against strong oceanic air currents, which is why they are often planted (especially in the case of informal rock piles lined up along the boundary) with dense reed thickets and/or shrubby plant species. Trying to classify and collate the types of walls present, we can find: retaining walls for terracing on slopes, low walls (around 1.2/1.5m high) for dividing properties, high walls (around 3m, in some cases up to 3.70m) for protection from the weather, as well as to limit visual intrusion from the outside, built mainly for orange cultivation, planted walls with the same function but more versatile in terms of biomass production. The one that is perhaps the most iconic and which takes on significant landscape value, both in terms of density and texture, is the type of walls associated with the cultivation of vines. Dense and continuous weave of medium-low walls (50/150 cm), which help the vine plant, which is cultivated at ground level, not to suffer from ocean winds. Evidence of this type of wall can be seen mainly on the island of Pico, where it is no coincidence that the highest levels of wine production have been recorded throughout the archipelago's history. Since 2004, the wine culture landscape of the island of Pico has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 4 2 Data from Serviço Regional de Estatistica dos Açores, https://srea.azores.gov.pt/ 3 Portuguese term for a portion of flat, small and generally arable land, originating from the seaward penetration of lava flows. 4 https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1117/ XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife Fig. 02 Landscape of Ilha do Pico, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Source: https://www.google.com/maps/ 3.2. Tourism in the Azores: the case of São Miguel The first tourist dynamics, understood as the temporary movement of people outside their living and working contexts for recreational purposes, began to orbit the Azores in the 18th century. With the innovations introduced by the advent of the Industrial Revolution, particularly in terms of transport, the archipelago once again played an important role in oceanic routes, serving as a stopover for transatlantic navigation. In this context, relations with England and North America were strengthened, also in commercial terms with the consolidation of the whaling industry and the orange trade. Numerous travellers began to arrive: traders, sailors, naturalists, aristocrats, who produced diaries, narratives and general travel literature. It was this that extended the scale of the Azores' attractiveness, especially in the following century, with the praise of its potential as a naturalistic experience, for its plant and volcanic landscapes. In particular, the curative power and virtues of the thermal waters were praised at this stage, with the locality of Furnas, on the island of São Miguel, becoming an obligatory stop for travellers who wanted to experience the much-vaunted properties of the sulphurous waters of this place. Nature and spa tourism were therefore the main reasons for travellers to visit these islands during the 19th century. This growing attractiveness revealed an inadequacy by the standards of the time in terms of accommodation facilities on the island of São Miguel, especially at the end of the century. This triggered a process of tourism promotion, with the Sociedade Propagadora de Notícias Micaelenses foundation, for the dissemination of news to encourage flows from mainland Portugal. The main showcase at this time of strong tourism promotion was the royal visit of D. Carlos and D. Amélia in 1901, for which there was a strong collective effort to build accommodation facilities, some of them temporary. After a period of stalemate in correspondence with the 1926 coup d'état, which brought little benefit in terms of tourism. The turning point in this respect came with the foundation of the Terra Nostra Society, formed by a group of local entrepreneurs, who built from the 1930s onwards: the tourist office and a guesthouse in Ponta Delgada, a hotel and later a casino in the spa town of Furnas, as well as the development of the adjacent park. (SERPA SILVA, 2020) Despite the further development of shipping and the introduction of civil aviation, the increase in the flow of tourists was slow compared to continental destinations. However, the drive for tourist development continued to grow, with the construction of hotel facilities, which in some cases failed precisely because of the imbalance XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife between supply and demand. One of the most emblematic cases in this regard was the Hotel Monte Palace, a luxury tourist facility (opened in 1989 and closed in 1990) that has now been abandoned to the point of entering the category of ruins. Coming to more recent times, the beginning of the 21st century is characterised by a consolidation of tourism dynamics. In particular, the Azores have opened up air traffic to low-cost companies since 2015, generating increasing tourist flows, with growth rates not previously seen. With this in mind, São Miguel is the island of the archipelago that receives the largest number of tourists, thanks to the presence of the international airport in Ponta Delgada. XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife 4. Project: place-based accommodation In terms of practical outcomes, a design proposal for an accommodation facility located on the island of S. Miguel, in Mosteiros (Ponta Delgada) is elaborated. Project aims: • reading the specificities of the landscape, with the subsequent reworking of the theme of dry stone walls and pertinent walls that articulate rural and urban space • integration into the urban mesh in the project design, by stitching up the existing fabric in the project • articulation of space with attention to the public/private interface, generating a variety of usable and permeable spaces for the public • educational/informative role of the structure, focused on environmental sustainability issues, with a focus on regenerative and adaptive agriculture with respect to climate change • recovery of the health vocation of local tourism, with the construction of a wellness centre • self-contained housing modules, proportionate to local dwellings, which can be adapted to more or less prolonged stay requirements, as well as to the urban context • spaces for creativity, sociability and exchange of ideas, in a community perspective The articulation of the project overlaps the landscape, urban and (temporary) housing dimensions, with the intention of establishing a strong relationship with local dynamics, in physical, relational and occupational terms. 4.1. Analysis of the territory Mosteiros is a small urban centre located in the north-western part of the island of São Miguel. It constitutes a freguesia (parish) within the Conselho Municipal de Ponta Delgada, with a population of 1,021 (2021 census) 5 . The extension of the freguesia is 8.98 km2 , bordering three other of these territorial units: Sete Cidades, Pilar da Bretanha and Ginetes. Very interesting is its geomorphological conformation, which in Portuguese is called fajã and is defined as: low and flat terrain, resulting from the detachment of a slope or cliff or from lava flows penetrating into the sea. The place-name Mosteiros is derived from one of the natural elements that most characterise the oceanic landscape overlooked by this strip of land: the stacks, called Ilhéus in Portuguese. These are rocky masses formed before the lava flow, which emerge imposingly from the water, with a maximum height of up to 72 metres, representing an ideal landing and breeding place for the marine avifauna typical of these islands. Fig. 03 Mosteiros. Source: Own elaboration The peculiar orography generates a scenario in which the steepest part is the most vegetated, with a strip of woodland enclosing the lower part where the settlement is located. In this area, more suited to agricultural activities, one can see the typical closed field conformation, with stone walls and fenced borders that geometrialise the organisation of the rural space. 5 Data from Serviço Regional de Estatistica dos Açores, https://srea.azores.gov.pt/ XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife As far as the built environment is concerned, it can be seen that the urban fabric is mainly linear, along the main routes. In this scheme, more consolidated, dense and informal areas can be seen in the two strips of land that enclose the harbour bay, testifying to the first forms of settlement. It is in one of these areas that the project takes place. Fig. 04 Mosteiros: tavola di analisi territoriale-paesaggistica. Fonte: Elaborazione propria XIVSIIU2023Lisboa|Recife 5. Conclusions Although perfectible and improvable, the design outcome is intended as an alternative proposal to the preconstituted and homologated models used globally in the construction of accommodation facilities. The intention to include the local community in the operational phase is an attempt at further articulation to avoid the topdown effect, a limitation of the intrinsic conflict that the realisation of a new urban object brings with it. The relevance of the proposed integration of the agricultural dimension does not have an 'economic-productive' purpose, but is configured as an experiential educational space, with a symbolic value with respect to the importance of changing the paradigms of production and evolutionary models. The utopian dimension that may transpire from these intentions is functional to a questioning approach to the reported issues, while the project outcomes are configured as possible answers from a poly-cultural perspective as an antithesis to the mono-cultural approach that often characterises the tourism sector. Bibliography - CALDAS, J. (2000). Arquitetura Popular dos Açores. Ordem dos Arquitetos. - D’ERAMO, M. (2000). Il selfie del mondo. Feltrinelli Editore. - FRUTUOSO, G. (1589). Saudades da Terra. [Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada]. - SERPA SILVA, S. (2020) Para a História do Turismo na Ilha de São Miguel. [Universidade de Caixas do Sul] - SILVA FIGUEREDO, M. (2019) Paradoxos de paisagem. [Universidade de Liboa] Online sources - https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/106382851420202673350/photos/@12.6127731,102.1136881, 17z/data=!4m3!8m2!3m1!1e1 (visited on 10/11/2022) - https://srea.azores.gov.pt/ (visited on 04/12/2022) - https://www.pinterest.es (visited on 03/04/2023) - http://www.ine.es (visited on 15/05/2023)