Zoom-in #1 – Assembling a toolkit for sustainable tourism

The first step in designing the ULT lies in the identification of the object of search, in other words, what information are we seeking and what exactly do we want to understand? CULTIGEN explores new ways of empirically understanding urban segments and, in doing so, establishes a new conceptual and methodological ground from which urban planners can attune themselves to the myriad values of the contemporary city. As part of this process, the project is developing a new urban tourism impact indicator – the Tourist-Local Resonance Indicator (TLRI) – designed to enhance the understanding and measurement of urban tourism’s effects on local communities and well-being. In practical terms, the TLRI will try and investigate:

•      Tourists and locals’ narratives of localhoods
•      Local proximities and tourist mobilities
•      Tourist-resident encounters and reactions

The ULT will provide the data foundation for such analyses, drawing upon both controlled and wild data. The former – such as georeferenced photos and sentiment data – will be collected directly from visitors and locals. The latter will consist of publicly available content, including social media posts and shot-term rental listings.

If we now open the Urban Listening Toolkit, we shall find a variety of tools  each specifically developed by the Aalborg University (AAU) team in order to collect and process distinct types of data from different sources. For controlled data, the ULT will rely on an updated version of the Urban Belonging photovoice app complemented by AIOLI, an AI-based open-ended limited interviewer. For wild data, the ULT focus its efforts on collecting information from two major platforms. On the one hand, it will analyse the most widely used photo-based social medium through the development of the Instagram Insights Generator. On the other hand, it will examine Airbnb listings using a spatio-lexicographical mapper (SLAM). 

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Let’s explore them one by one.

• Urban Belonging App. The core and most important tool of the ULT will an upgraded version of the existing Urban Belonging App developed by Aalborg University. In its CULTIGEN iteration, the app collects photos, voice notes, geolocation data, pathways and itineraries, as well as reactions from both tourists and residents. It then processes this raw material to generate insights into tourists’ atmospheric perceptions, mobility patterns, residents’ knowledge of local neighbourhoods, and the responses of both tourists and locals.
• AIOLI: AI Open-ended Limited Interviewer. AIOLI will function as a chatbot-like interface to conduct interviews with visitors and locals. In particular, it will be used to capture tourists’ additional reflections on their experiences, to gather demographic information and infer profiles of both residents and tourists, to collect residents’ opinions of tourists and vice versa, and, more generally, to elicit more elaborated narrative accounts.
• Instagram Insights Generator (IIG). The IIG will collect data from Instagram, analysing photographs, captions and post texts, authors’ metadata, geolocation, and post metrics. Given the vast amount of available material, the IIG will employ two sampling strategies: (a) enterprise-based (curated lists of local businesses and cultural venues) and (b) location-based (geotagged posts). Once aggregated and processed, these data will provide insights into how loci relate to one another, how local identities are crafted and curated (atmosphere production), and how tourists source their information.
• SLAM: Spatio-Lexigraphical Airbnb Mapper. SLAM will focus on collecting Airbnb data. It will analyse text, host information, the metadata of listings, geolocation, and photos in order to reveal how hosts frame and narrate their neighbourhoods, how they establish proximities and cross-references to other districts, how they position their locations in relation to the wider city, and, more generally, where Airbnb accommodations are situated.

To maximise the value of the information gathered through the ULT, and to ensure that each component contributes to coherent insights, the development team has designed an integration strategy based on toolchains. The core idea of a toolchain is to perform complex tasks through the sequential execution of tools, forming a connected workflow. Typically, such a process begins with a raw input, which is then subjected to successive stages of processing, whereby the output of one tool becomes the input for the next, and so on.

In CULTIGEN, the ULT will be based on four toolchains:

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•      Tool Chain 1 – Tourist Narratives
  • Visitors use the app to generate annotated, geolocated photo sets.
  • Aioli complements this with persona-rich reflections (text/voice-to-text).
  • Output: narrative-enriched photo sets, mobility patterns, and user personas.
•      Tool Chain 2 – Local Narratives
  • Airbnb data collection captures hosts’ stories framing the neighbourhood.
  •  Instagram captures residents’ and enterprises’ posts.
  • Resident users of the app provide narrative-driven photos.
  • Output: vignettes and nuanced localhood narratives
• Tool Chain 3 – Mapping
  • Airbnb data mapped (listings, proximities, neighbourhood mentions).
  • App data captures mobility flows of tourists.
  • Instagram analysis of follower/following networks reveals spatial links across the city.
  • Output: new cartographies of urban proximities, beyond simple geography.
• Tool Chain 4 – Digital Encounters
  • Visitors and residents react to each other’s photos in the app.
  • Aioli feeds resident photos to tourists and vice versa.
  • Output: persona-enriched tourist–resident digital encounters, scaled up from earlier small-group “photo voice” methods

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Beyond coding and developing the ULT tools, the biggest challenge for CULTIGEN is to reach and engage enough users to download and use the Urban Belonging app and to take part in open-ended interviews with AIOLI, and ultimately and ultimately generate the data the project is seeking.

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To this end, the project has defined different use cases for both tools and is developing a comprehensive engagement strategy with varied recruitment pathways, tasks, and outcomes.
For the app, use cases range from independent to facilitated usage, with an intermediate oriented option in between. In the most independent scenario, a resident sees a flyer at a local cultural venue, scans a QR code, and joins a photo task based on written instructions. In the intermediate case, tourists interact with an information booth at the Visitor Service, where staff guide them through photo tasks to complete during their visit. In the most facilitated setting, locals and visitors join a two-hour activity at a camper van during a local festival, combining use of the app with model-building and competitions to win tickets to the National Museum.
For AIOLI, two approaches are envisaged. In the more standard case, a tourist who has used the Urban Belonging app receives a request to complete an open-ended, interactive survey through AIOLI after their visit. In the more creative version, locals may encounter a booth at a cultural venue designed to resemble an arcade game machine, where they might, for example, play a game of guessing whether photos were taken by tourists or residents.
Based on these use case scenarios, CULTIGEN is fine-tuning and developing a scalable engagement model that deploys a range of strategies to attract, motivate, incentivise, and reward potential users. In this context, the project will rely on traditional marketing techniques such as floor runners, flyers, and digital prompts, while also harnessing the broad outreach capacity of the Copenhagen Visitor Service (CVS).

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Gamification will play a central role in this strategy, spanning from in-app tasks and badges (e.g. Street Sleuth, Neighbourhood Navigator, City Scout), which provide light recognition without distorting participation, to more creative physical installations, including:

• Urban Jackpot: a slot-machine game presenting photos or stories to which users contribute their own narratives in response.
• Localina Robot: a playful guide at the Visitor Service that generates custom itineraries and encourages app use.
• Living Maps: interactive displays in public venues showcasing collective contributions.

CULTIGEN is also exploring other forms of rewards for participants, including a possible integration with the existing and highly successful CopenPay system.

With the start of beta testing in the autumn, CULTIGEN and the Urban Listening Toolkit have a promising future ahead. Stay tuned for more updates on their progress and achievements in the coming months!