A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Communication of national parks in guided tours : taking wilderness to the next level?
National parks are legally tasked to create awareness about the responsible treatment of nature and instruct environmental education. At the same time they hold a unique position to create meaning for an interested and positive audience. Nevertheless the communication in guided tours focus on conveying only the national park mission and does not emphasize environmental protection, or sustainable development. Thus the potential of raising environmental awareness within guided tours in national parks is not being explored to its full extent. This thesis aims at describing how the guided tours in German national parks are designed and conceptualized in order to explain why sustainable development does not play an important role in the communication strategies of national parks. The theoretical base of the investigation is Symbolic Interactionism, leading the research to investigate key communicators in national parks through in-depth interviews. Social objects, which influence and lead the communicators when designing guided tours, are extracted and interpreted through a content analysis. The research concludes in identifying the main variables influencing the design of guided tours; the perspective of the national park the communicators take when designing the tours inhibits them from taking the interpretation of the law further. Their identified cybernetic understanding of communication does not facilitate planning and development of a mutual and jointly dialogue between tour guides and visitors. The usage of Nature Interpretation as main concept for guided tours makes them adhere to the phenomenon on site.
Communication of national parks in guided tours : taking wilderness to the next level?
National parks are legally tasked to create awareness about the responsible treatment of nature and instruct environmental education. At the same time they hold a unique position to create meaning for an interested and positive audience. Nevertheless the communication in guided tours focus on conveying only the national park mission and does not emphasize environmental protection, or sustainable development. Thus the potential of raising environmental awareness within guided tours in national parks is not being explored to its full extent. This thesis aims at describing how the guided tours in German national parks are designed and conceptualized in order to explain why sustainable development does not play an important role in the communication strategies of national parks. The theoretical base of the investigation is Symbolic Interactionism, leading the research to investigate key communicators in national parks through in-depth interviews. Social objects, which influence and lead the communicators when designing guided tours, are extracted and interpreted through a content analysis. The research concludes in identifying the main variables influencing the design of guided tours; the perspective of the national park the communicators take when designing the tours inhibits them from taking the interpretation of the law further. Their identified cybernetic understanding of communication does not facilitate planning and development of a mutual and jointly dialogue between tour guides and visitors. The usage of Nature Interpretation as main concept for guided tours makes them adhere to the phenomenon on site.
Communication of national parks in guided tours : taking wilderness to the next level?
Pöggel, Karoline (author)
2015-01-01
Miscellaneous
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
710
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