starting
...I
have decided there is nothing harder than starting ...especially a piece of
writing that has all of your hopes and dreams riding on the back of it.
But one must start if they are to finish and I hope this blog
becomes a vehicle to do this.
As I have called my blog the critical quest[ion] I
thought a proposal for the work I am about to embark on might be a relevant
place to start.
So without further ado here it is:
Thesis Title
The
Local vs Tourism: the oxymoron of coastal settlement
Summary
(200-350 words)
My thesis will inquire the relationships between tourism and
local in NZ coastal settlements.
"We
inscribe [landscape] with our hopes and dreams: the land is our waka, our
location beacon, a site of layered history. Landscape is a state of mind: the
environment that determines the character of a people; it is a map of our
assumptions, desires, projections...Feelings about places haunt us and inspire
us. We seek clues in the landscape for answers to the riddle, the secret of
where we are, who we are, here on earth."
David
Eggleton
Here
on Earth
Eggleton describes the landscapes importance in forming the
local sense of place belonging and identity but also the drive humankind has to
travel and explore new frontiers. "We
seek clues in the landscape for answers to the riddle, the secret of where we
are, who we are, here on earth." in the exploration of different cultures,
histories and landscapes we seek to answer the riddle of our own existence.
Despite the shared need to place oneself in the world the
concepts of tourism and the local start to diverge. The local landscape is
linked to identity, belonging and authencity; is integral to the individual and
their culture. Whereas the travelled landscape becomes a reflection of oneself;
seeing other landscapes and cultures in comparison to our own. The local and
travelled landscape both place the individual on earth, the differences rise in
the level of intimacy.
The rise of globalized tourism to the travelled landscape
creates an even larger divide between the local (people and landscape) and the tourist.
The tourist jumps from continent to continent; distances, orientation and
relationships are lost and the success of a trip abroad is no longer determined
by the new experiences and memories but the number of views and jealous
comments on facebook holiday albums. The travelled landscape becomes a natural
product to be “consumed” and spurred by the increasing relationship of
consumption tourism activities become further embedded in the landscape.
Many New Zealand coastal settlements rely heavily on tourism to keep afloat the
local economy but in return are becoming over run with tourist accommodation,
activities and facilities. In the on season place is lost in flux, the local
becomes slave to the crowds and the tourist machine whereas in the off season
the place is still and empty.
With such opposites residing in NZ settlements; tourism and
place, local and tourist, landscape and travel, on and off season; how can a
place be conceived to negotiate such differences? The current model of the ‘modern’
holiday home in transposed suburb is both unsustainable and stale; it lends
nothing to the dynamism and culture of holiday making the informal bach
communities once embodied. With future growth in coastal settlements, such as
Tutukaka, likely, how can we regain the essence of place and the local in our
tourist destinations?
Critical Question of your thesis
How can two opposing concepts
of tourism and the local inform the sustainable future of NZ coastal
development?
Key References
Place
vs Tourism
Colafranceschi,
Daniela. Landscape + 100 Words to Inhabit
It. Spain: Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2007. Book.
Lew,
Alan. A Companion to Tourism. UK:
Blackwell Publishing, 2004. Book.
NZ
Landscape Literature
Eggleton,
David. Here on Earth. Nelson: Craig
Potton Publishing, 1999. Book
Park,
Geoff. Nga Uruora- the groves of life. Wellington:
Victoria University Press, 1995. Book.
NZ
Contemporary Coastal Settlement
Cheshire,
Pip. Architecture Uncooked- The NZ
Holiday House Through an Architects Eyes. Auckland: Random House New
Zealand, 2008. Book
McKay,
Bill. “Omaha Beach Invasion.” Architecture
New Zealand 65. December (2007):41-47. Print.
Tutukaka
Keene,
Florence. Tutukaka Coast. Whangarei: F.Keene, 1993. Book.
Ruru,
Jacinta. Making Our Place: exploring
land-use tensions in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dunedin: Otago University Press,
2011. Book.
Thesis
Presentation
Maeda,
John. The Laws of Simplicity. UK: The
MIT Press, 2006. Book.
As an architecture student that has lived and traveled to
many coastal settlements all over New Zealand I very much care for the growth
and change tourism has imparted on our physical, abstract and social landscapes.
Landscape (physical and abstract), Tourism and Community
dynamics are all massive core subjects, each with volumes and volumes of
written word and opinion. The next week will involve narrowing my topic of inquiry and thinking about what direction my architectural component for the thesis
might take from this research.
Alot to do…always
