Interventions for renovation of coastal tourism destinations. A proposal for terminological homogenization

Abstract

As in residential areas, aging and obsolescence of urban fabrics that hold tourism activities require measures that ensure the maintenance and even increase of competitiveness. For this reason, intervention in public and private spaces (such as tourism accommodation, services, and leisure facilities, etc.) of coastal holiday destinations have become a structural axis of public policies. However, despite the experience acquired with the intervention in pre-existing cities, the terminology used to describe the different kinds of proceedings is frequently misused. The lack of accuracy in the use of terms that describe different kinds of interventions in tourism areas and facilities affect the principle of legal certainty and the objectivity enforceable to Public Administration. The purpose of this paper is to identify and systematize the diversity of terms frequently used to describe physical interventions for the regeneration of coastal urban destinations, with the aim of proposing a common and homogeneous terminology. This work is based on the references contained in regulations related to the renovation of the tourism destination Canary Islands (Spain). The selection of terms has a practical and non-speculative dimension, based on a deep and systematized revision of the bibliography. The result is a categorization of the scientific production related to the discussion of terms applied to interventions in consolidated urban areas.