From the Executive Summary:
This report summarizes recent trends and developments in one area of economic development that is dependent on continued high quality of life: heritage tourism. Heritage tourism--defined most generally as attracting visitors to an area because of the natural and historic qualities of the place--would seem to be a good fit with the scenic qualities and rural lifestyles of Southeastern Minnesota. To a degree, this is true, and there are important programs already underway in this area. But it is important to note that in some cases tourism, whether termed "heritage" or not, can result in dramatic, unwanted changes in the place that visitors are coming to see.
This report is an overview, a road map if you will, of issues, concerns, and practices as they pertain to heritage tourism in Southeast Minnesota. The basic question the study addresses is:
Can sustainable heritage tourism be developed in such a way that economic development goals are reached without incurring unwanted changes in lifestyle and "sense of place"?
The report explores this question by developing two lines of inquiry. The first summarizes and surveys current trends and developments in heritage tourism in the Southeast Minnesota region. The second highlights some current practices, programs, and principles from outside the region. Analysis of the trends and case studies highlights success already taking place as well as points to opportunities for still greater sustainable development.

Quick Facts:

• Author: Patrick Nunnally
• Published: August 1, 2001, CURA, Univ of Minnesota
• Intended audience: land use planners; communities dealing with disagreements over land use, particularly residential development vs. ag development vs. conservation as is, for the purposes of tourism
  
• The narrative of the executive summary & introduction would speak generally to anyone trying to facilitate dialogue between groups with apparently different values as they approach the same problem.
• Goals / purpose: To bridge divides between community groups and address the question of whether heritage tourism is a sustainable option (in the economic, environmental, & cultural sense)
• Methods - How would someone know they could trust this?
• Includes explicit definitions of heritage tourism from several sources
• Nice summary points at the end, broken into digestible pieces
• From 1 (not very well)–4 (very well), how well does this source of food knowledge:
• Engage an adequate range of perspectives and types of knowledge? (3)
• Translate between diverse perspectives? (3)
  
• Address conflicts across perspectives? (4)
• Generate useful information for those affected by the issues addressed? (4)
• Include an adequate range of relevant stakeholders throughout the knowledge-creation process? (3)
  
• Help users of this knowledge source learn from each other? (4)
  
• Allow users of this knowledge source to put what they learn into action? (3)
  
• Consider the larger context as necessary? (3)
  
• What is useful, meaningful, surprising, or a problem? Questions?
• Separately summarizes current practices in SE MN & outside the region
• Meaningful quotes:
• "In some ways, land use planning is about more than just what should happen to a particular parcel; land use planning decisions, and the processes by which changes are made, get to fundamental values of the sense of place, quality of life, regional identity, and relation between the public and local units of government."
• "Well-placed naysayers can do a lot to torpedo a good program if they aren't brought into the process early and their views aren't considered carefully."
• "Listen carefully. 'This is what you have to do if you want buses' doesn't mean ''This is what you have to do, period' nor does it mean you have to want buses. This is just one example of how signals can get crossed and messages confused without a careful planning process..."
  

• What do you think could or should be done with this source of knowledge?
• What has already been done?
• How should we keep track of what this knowledge does as it circulates in the world?
• What connections would you like to see made to other information / people / organizations?

See http://www.cura.umn.edu/publications/catalog/l2001-1 for this and other resources from CURA.

(ID# 1015)

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