Linking heritage interpretation with rail and bus line marketing

Abstract

Examples from south-west Germany show that the customised interpretation of heritage along the way can help the promotion of public railway and bus lines. Both strategies and success factors for linking heritage interpretation with line marketing, considering the interpretation framework, specifics of transportation media and the regional context, are identified and challenges to evaluation on a project level are examined.

Keywords:

• heritage interpretation
• line marketing
• railways
• bus lines
• regional marketing

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Jürgen Löffler and Anne Wartenberg (bodo, Ravensburg) as well as Dieter Pfeffer, Anne Lohmüller (naldo, Hechingen) and Gundula Marks (IfR, KIT) for their assistance.

Notes on contributors

Andreas Megerle ([email protected]) earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Tübingen, Germany. As a trainer and consultant for integrative regional planning, tourism, environmental protection and heritage interpretation projects since 1990s, Dr Megerle worked as a research associate at the Institute of Regional Science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology from 2004 to 2013. Between 2003 and 2010, he held different posts as national geopark expert to the German Geological Society and the German National Geopark Commission. He is founder of the UNESCO geopark Swabian Alb and peer reviewer for geotourism-related journals. His research publications deal with geoparks, geotourism and network management. Dr Megerle's current research activities focus on the acceptance of public planning projects, management of cooperation networks and heritage interpretation systems.

Annette Hildinger ([email protected]) obtained her diploma in geoecology in the Institute of Geography and Geoecology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2012. She also holds a BA in musicology and cultural science with skills in intercultural communication, exposition design for museums and project management. Since 2008, she has cooperated with Andreas Megerle in different projects related to the management of intercultural teams and methods of heritage interpretation. Having focused her studies, among others, on regional planning, regional science and landscape ecology, Hildinger has a special research interest in the public acceptance of nature protection measures such as during the establishment of national parks.

Yvonne Ernst ([email protected]) studied architecture, urban planning and regional science at the HS Karlsruhe – University of Applied Sciences, the Politecnico di Milano and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Having worked as a project and network manager for a regional social organisation since 2007, she has, amongst other work, conducted conceptual and research activities in the field of sustainability education for various organisations and on heritage interpretation for the Institute of Regional Science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Notes

1. ‘Regional' in this context means railways that primarily use traditional lines within regional distance relations and which travel slower than high-speed systems.

2. This aspect is often disregarded when installing interpretation panels along German highways. The panels often describe curiosities actually invisible from the car or bus, sometimes rendering those panels a ‘parodist aspect' (Kunze, 2009)

3. Predominance does not imply exclusivity. There are numerous other possibilities for sensual perceptions like olfactory (e.g. the smell of a pine forest in summer), acoustic (e.g. a large waterfall), changing atmospheric conditions (e.g. humidity of a forest in contrast to agricultural landscapes). In the bus, sensual perceptions concerning the changes of road conditions through acoustics and physical effects are possible, for instance caused by the ‘rumbling' of the bus on an old cobblestone pavement

4. One example is old stone walls accompanying a railway line in the foreground. They are often sensually perceptible through their characteristic patterns of how the window pictures change.