How Can Ski Resorts Get Smart? Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainable Winter Tourism in the European Alps

Abstract

Climate change and the call for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the efficient use of (renewable) energy, and more resilient winter tourism regions, forces ski resorts across the European Alps to look for “smart” approaches to transition towards a sustainable, low-carbon economy. Drawing on the smart-city concept and considering the different historical developments of Alpine resorts, the Smart Altitude Decision-Making Toolkit was developed using a combination of an energy audit tool, a WebGIS, and collaborative and innovative living labs installed in Les Orres (France), Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), Krvavec (Slovenia), and Verbier (Switzerland). This step-by-step Decision-Making Toolkit enables ski resorts to get feedback on their energy demand, an overview of the locally available sources of renewable energy, and insights regarding their potential for improving their energy efficiency by low-carbon interventions. The Decision-Making Toolkit is suitable for knowledge transfer between stakeholders within living labs and moreover provides the flexibility for tailor-made low-carbon strategies adapting to the unique assets and situatedness of ski resorts.

Assessing the Competitiveness of the Ski Resources around Lake Baikal (Russia) and Measures for Their Further Development

“…Many ski resorts are valuable natural and recreational resources that attract tourists and skiers from around the world. A review of the literature in this area reveals various aspects of ski resources, including their natural and geographic characteristics [25,26], environmental sustainability [27][28][29], infrastructure [30], safety [31], and management organization [32]. Researchers examine the impact of climate change on snow cover [33], the efficiency of resource use [34], the impact of the ski industry on local communities [35] and the environment [36], and different strategies for the sustainable development of ski resorts [37].…”

Ecological Carrying Capacity and Ecological Footprint of Ski Tourism: A Case of North Slope Region of Tianshan Mountain

“…Another crucial topic is balancing the economic benefits of tourism with the environmental preservation [16][17][18]. Annemarie et al have successfully created an intelligent skiing model, thereby providing a theoretical basis for the intelligent development of ski tourism [19]. The humanistic perspective of ski tourism is emerging, and some scholars have begun to pay attention to tourists' perception of ski tourism [20][21][22].…”

Facing Societal Challenges in Living Labs: Towards a Conceptual Framework to Facilitate Transdisciplinary Collaborations

“…As such, multi-stakeholder collaboration in living lab projects is considered a requirement for innovation [6] and is often brought forward using innovation frameworks, such as triple-, quadruple-, or quintuple-helix models (e.g., [2]). Today, we see a myriad of successful examples implementing the living lab approach to directly or indirectly tackle specific societal challenges through collaboration, for example to stimulate the transition towards a carbon neutral future [14], to deal with cultural diversity and social cohesion issues [15], or to fast forward the innovation in healthcare [16]. Most of the corresponding literature describes the added value of collaboration for innovation, in particular, how collaboration between industry, academic, and governmental sectors promotes knowledge-based economic growth and social development [17][18][19][20][21].…”