Jan Henrik NILSSON, Lunds universitet, Sweden
Lena ESKILSSON, Lunds universitet, Sweden
Universities today generate considerable flows of international travel and there are many different visitors coming to university cities, for different reasons and for various lengths of stay. As a secondary effect, these forms of mobility contribute to the demand for accommodation, infrastructure and services. In our session contribution, the phenomenon of visitor flows generated by universities is defined as science driven mobility. We analyse science driven mobility as a part of New Urban Tourism, and discuss this phenomenon as a way to challenge common conceptualisations of tourism. Three broad visitor categories within science driven mobility are identified, based both on length of their stay and spatial impact on the cityscape. Like other forms of New Urban Tourism, science driven mobility may bring considerable spatial change to university cities, it questions traditional perceptions of tourism by viewing students and transient researchers as non-permanent residents, and there are indications that science driven mobility bring cultural change. The discussion is based on a case study of the university city of Lund in the south of Sweden.
Mots clés : New Urban Tourism|science driven mobility|place development|tourism geography| urban geography
A103428LE