معماری، گردشگری و توسعه پایدار برای منطقه دورو

We claim that sustainable construction and architecture has vital role in achieving the tourism full potential for conservation and development of the Douro Region, with recognized capacity for tourism growth. Buildings that make possible tourism occupation, involve extra consumption of energy and natural resources, when compared to average levels of local communities. To make progress on this, we are gathering a representative set of tourism compounds that will be analyzed through criteria from evaluation methods of sustainable construction. We are gathering data related with the comfort experience of this buildings users, aiming to know the ratio between tourists demands of comfort and final consumption of resources. As result of this research, we intend to refine environmental certification criteria in this specific geographical context and building category and, if necessary, define corrective intervention strategies and guidelines.

In Europe, the "increased demand for sustainable destinations, where nature and local communities play a key role" [1] along with a growing environmental awareness are recognized as crucial factors in the success of tourism products. The Portuguese National Strategic Tourism Plan [2], places "Gastronomic and Wine Tourism” in first of the 10 strategic products. Nowadays, the Upper Douro and Douro International, have recognized potential for tourism growth. However, the buildings that are necessary for leisure and tourism activities, imply an extra consumption of energy and natural resources, when compared to consumption levels for regular dwelling. The original development impetus of the industry associated to the Demarcated Wine Region of Alto Douro, with 250 years of existence, has little in common with the current demands of growth and development of the "Gastronomic and Wine Tourism” concept. it is very easy for Tourism, understood as "leisure, culture, mobility and knowledge,” to become only synonym for unsustainability [3]. To overcome such problems, in one hand "the policies of destination management should be improved with a more consistent and coherent planning" [1]. At small scale analysis, attention to architecture and construction detail of tourist facilities, is central to "explore the potential for tourism promoting conservation and development, avoiding the negative impact on the ecology, culture and aesthetics" [4]. It is necessary to know the factors that interfere with the comfort feelings of visitors and users of Tourism buildings. The comfort parameters required by visitors should converge with the need to lower the levels of energy consumption and reduce landscape and environmental impacts, such as solid waste, sewage and water use? Despite that we don’t known the ratio between the tourists demands of comfort and final consumption of resources, the result of individual small decisions in architecture to satisfy these requirements are reflected exponentially in the environmental indicators of the tourist region.

Douro region needs to adopt touristic standards based on the contemporary adaptations of the original Ecotourism model. The term Ecotourism was “coined by Héctor Ceballos-Lascuràin in 1983, and was initially used to describe nature-based travel to relatively undisturbed areas with an emphasis on education” [20]. Nowadays, Ecotourism is synonymous with models of sustainable tourism development that meets in the present, the needs both of the tourists and visited regions, at the same time protects and ensures equal opportunity for the future. The management of resources must be such that the economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, ecological processes, biodiversity and all systems of life support. The potential conflicts or benefits that arise from local versus global construction standards is one of the key factors to determine the outcome of the region touristic success extremely dependent on territorial landscape identity. Conflicts can arise due to scarce resources abuse and misuse, whereas in this sense buildings and particularly those related to tourism use, have incontestably responsibility if not properly conceived and managed. Benefits can be found if small scale, locally integrated touristic facilities which are in harmony with the local landscape and where tourists share space with hosts and social exchange occurs [21]. Sustainable tourism is an extensively proclaimed strategical goal for the Douro region, this ongoing work and other related and critical investigation is indispensable to provide valid input for local governance decisions and territorial management tools.