Passages and Destinations: A Tourism Studio Road to Rural Development

Abstract

This paper describes the goals and development of a rural tourism Studio for Masters-level students in the Southern Tier of Western New York over the last decade. The main goal of the Studios has been to explore how tourism may be used to promote general economic development in a relatively impoverished rural area and so help to improve living conditions, including housing. The studio experience is considered to be an important part of the preparation for a career in planning. Studios almost always enter into, and attempt to contribute to, an ongoing planning and development process and are undertaken with the cooperation of local communities and agencies. The paper describes the background of students, their disciplinary skills and work experience, ethnic, age and geographic mix, and general unfamiliarity with rural issues. Also described are the various constraints and compromises with respect to course requirements and schedules, location, local participation and engaging communities. The paper illustrates some of the housing-related findings and recommendations—recreational and second homes, low-income properties, retirement and mobile homes—and concludes with an evaluation of the Studio overall including its limitations and suggestions for a continuing “planning-bus”approach to University-community collaboration.

Key words:

• rural tourism
• planning studio community development
• recreational housing

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sam Cole

Sam Cole is a Professor in the Department of urban and Regional Planning, Hayes Hall, Main St. Campus, University at Buffalo, New York.