Psychological resilience

Sociology

Archaeology

Biology

Politics

Philosophy

Adaptive strategies

Political science

Tourism

Psychology

Geography

Ecology

Destinations

Scale (ratio)

Context (archaeology)

Cartography

Cultural heritage

Heritage tourism

Cultural heritage management

Indigenous

Social psychology

Environmental ethics

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

This article analyzed a living cultural heritage destination’s adaptive resilience from the perspective of social-ecological systems (SES). The aim was to test the SES framework at Hoi An Ancient Town, a cultural World Heritage Site in central Viet Nam by (1) delineating the adaptive renewal cycle in the historical context of destination development; (2) examining community resilience to spatio-cultural changes induced by mass tourism; and (3) identifying characteristics of tourism systems via the control mechanisms of the panarchy’s cross-scale interactions. Findings from Hoi An extend the conventional SES approach by revealing the complex context of social relationships that typify human-related adaptation in cultural living heritage destinations. Contrary to conventional SES theory that depicts cross-scale interactions as one-way mechanisms, we propose a multidimensional model of twin interactions concurrently characterized by contrasting forces of bottom-up “revolt” and top-down “remember” functions. Findings from historical, contemporary and systematic dimensions shed light on incorporating Indigenous knowledge and practices into heritage conservation as a form of community resilience. Our analysis also extends the continuity notion of a living heritage site in developing countries, applying an SES framework to complex political, social, cultural and economic concerns in order to contextualize tourism development in Hoi An.

The adaptive resilience of living cultural heritage in a tourism destination