Technik. Tourismus. Landschaft

We can find numerous researches in technology, tourism and landscape. However, in combination we do not find the three topics too often, despite the combination is crucial for a country like Austria with a long tradition in technology, a strong dependence on tourism and a unique cultural landscape. 

Technology describes the "How". How can we explore the landscape as a basis for tourism? How can tourism achieve a better performance in conditions of accelerating change? Technology in form of infrastructures and machines changes the way of how people live and from what they make a living. 

Tourism describes "What". What is the occupation of people? From what do people make a living? Tourism is the most important non urban land use in Austria. 8% of GDP are directly earned in tourism, as compared to less than 3% in agriculture and forestry. Without tourism, rural Austria would look significantly different than today. 

Landscape offers "Where". Where shall we use technologies and where shall we practice tourism. Landscape is complex, consisting of solid, liquid and gaseous phases, that developed to a unique particular appearance in millions of years. However, today the most accelerating factor of change is human activity or more and more non-activity in periphery areas.

The Vienna University of Technology (TU) consists of eight faculties with a manifold of unique competences within the fields of technology, tourism and landscape. We considered this as an excellent base for starting a TU based centre TTL. Talking to each other in scientific meetings was the first step to cooperation. Despite the physical vicinity, there can be a huge distance in time and scale relevance of processes relevant for research in TTL. The challenge derives from the manifold and differences of the disciplines involved and overcoming the traditional borders with unique project ideas.