This report investigates prior experiences and impacts of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) with the aim of informing preparation plans for Leeuwarden and Fryslân to organize the event in 2018. The longterm benefits that the ECoC tend to be both tangible through improvements in facilities, and intangible as self-confidence and pride increase as the result of celebrating the destination, its culture and history.
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A culture change within an organization may be of importance in this turbulent world. An assessment of the current and desired cultural profiles can help estimate as to whether any changes are required. In this study the organizational culture of a housing association was examined from both the staff’s and external stakeholders’ perspectives. How does the current culture compare with the desired culture? Do the external stakeholders perceive the organization’s culture in a similar way? Do the staff’s and external stakeholders’ perceptions coincide with the organization’s intended image? The results demonstrate that the external stakeholders’ perceptions of the organizational culture in this case study are similar to those of the organization’s staff.
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Safety culture has been a topic of discussion in safety literature in the past three decades. Since its first mentioning after the Chernobyl accident much have been written about what fosters a positive safety culture within organizations. The Aviation Academy of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences conducted a literature review into safety culture development guidelines and identified a list of 37 prerequisites for safety culture development. Existing safety culture assessment tools target to measure the subjective perceptions of the workforce without examining the parameters affecting safety culture. Thus, they cannot be used to provide the organisations with guidance on the action points for improving their safety culture. To accommodate the need for practical guidance to companies, and as part of four-year research into Aviation Safety Metrics, the Aviation Academy has developed the AVAC-SCP tool, which aims to shed light on the planning and implementation for developing a safety culture. Knowledge experts and companies have reviewed the tool as a means to meet various criteria referred to literature with regards to safety metrics. The tool will enable organisations to derive actionable points from the results. A scoring method is included in the AVAC-SCP in order provide organizations with the ability to monitor their performance over time, compare between departments, and prioritize changes. The concept, academic background, reviews and other characteristics of the AVAC-SCP are discussed.
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Wet and healthy peatlands have a strong natural potential to save carbon and, due to their waterbuffering capacity, play an important role in managing periods of excessive rains or droughts. Yet, inNWE regions large areas of peatlands are drained for peat mining, agriculture or forestry, whichmakes them CO2 emission sources rather than sinks. By restoring the capacity to buffer carbon andwater, BUFFER+ partners aim at climate change adaptation and mitigation in NWE regions, while atthe same time restore biodiversity and create new revenue streams.BUFFER+ involves 21 partners and 7 Associated Organisations from regions
Client: Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA - Stichting Innovatie Alliantie) with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) Funder: RAAK (Regional Attention and Action for Knowledge circulation) The RAAK scheme is managed by the Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA - Stichting Innovatie Alliantie) with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). Early 2013 the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport started work on the RAAK-MKB project ‘Carbon management for tour operators’ (CARMATOP). Besides NHTV, eleven Dutch SME tour operators, ANVR, HZ University of Applied Sciences, Climate Neutral Group and ECEAT initially joined this 2-year project. The consortium was later extended with IT-partner iBuildings and five more tour operators. The project goal of CARMATOP was to develop and test new knowledge about the measurement of tour package carbon footprints and translate this into a simple application which allows tour operators to integrate carbon management into their daily operations. By doing this Dutch tour operators are international frontrunners.Why address the carbon footprint of tour packages?Global tourism contribution to man-made CO2 emissions is around 5%, and all scenarios point towards rapid growth of tourism emissions, whereas a reverse development is required in order to prevent climate change exceeding ‘acceptable’ boundaries. Tour packages have a high long-haul and aviation content, and the increase of this type of travel is a major factor in tourism emission growth. Dutch tour operators recognise their responsibility, and feel the need to engage in carbon management.What is Carbon management?Carbon management is the strategic management of emissions in one’s business. This is becoming more important for businesses, also in tourism, because of several economical, societal and political developments. For tour operators some of the most important factors asking for action are increasing energy costs, international aviation policy, pressure from society to become greener, increasing demand for green trips, and the wish to obtain a green image and become a frontrunner among consumers and colleagues in doing so.NetworkProject management was in the hands of the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport (CSTT) of NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences. CSTT has 10 years’ experience in measuring tourism emissions and developing strategies to mitigate emissions, and enjoys an international reputation in this field. The ICT Associate Professorship of HZ University of Applied Sciences has longstanding expertise in linking varying databases of different organisations. Its key role in CARMATOP was to create the semantic wiki for the carbon calculator, which links touroperator input with all necessary databases on carbon emissions. Web developer ibuildings created the Graphical User Interface; the front end of the semantic wiki. ANVR, the Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour operators, represents 180 tour operators and 1500 retail agencies in the Netherlands, and requires all its members to meet a minimum of sustainable practices through a number of criteria. ANVR’s role was in dissemination, networking and ensuring CARMATOP products will last. Climate Neutral Group’s experience with sustainable entrepreneurship and knowledge about carbon footprint (mitigation), and ECEAT’s broad sustainable tourism network, provided further essential inputs for CARMATOP. Finally, most of the eleven tour operators are sustainable tourism frontrunners in the Netherlands, and are the driving forces behind this project.
The Academy for Leisure & Events has always been one of the frontrunners when it comes to the development, design and implementation of cultural tourism and creative industry business models as well as lifelong learning programmes.These programmes are attended by a variety of leisure and tourism professionals, including public authorities in leisure, culture and nature fields.The CULTURWB project addresses the need for strengthening the development of the cultural tourism industry.The experts from BUas together with the other project partners have utilised diverse research methodologies (marketing and branding, strategy business planning, digital tourism, sustainable development, strategy and action plan implementation, etc.) to develop and pilot a toolkit for Lifelong Learning courses in the field of cultural tourism and heritage. They have also designed and implemented a master’s programme in the WB countries and created an online platform for communication between stakeholders, industry leaders, managers, workforce, and academia.PartnersHochschule Heibronn, FH Joanneum Gesellschaft, World University Service - Österreichisches Komitee (WUS Austria), Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar (UNMO), University of East Sarajevo (UES), The University of Banja Luka (UBL), University of NIS (UNI), University of Montenegro (UoM), Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures (SMOC), rovincial Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (PZZZSK), Tourism Organisation of Kotor Municipality (TO Kotor)
Lectoraat, onderdeel van NHL Stenden Hogeschool
