Tourism Impact Management Framework by Queen's Students of Urban Planning
Auroville Integral Sustainablitiy Institue hosted for the fifth time students of urban planning from Queens Universtiy, Kingston, Canada. This year’s task was to look at the (good and bad) aspects of impacts of tourists and visitors on Auroville, and surrounding villages to provide framework that will used to create a plan to manage the impact of tourism to benefit Auroville and its Green Belt. Sarah Butt, Allana Damo, Nadia El Dabee, Kassidee Fior, Carling Fraiser, Kelsey Jones and Vaness Smith with guidance of their professor Ajay Agarwal, and with support of Lalit from Auroville Integral Sustainability Institue approach the task with intensive researches prior coming to Auroville, and on the ground they conducted several interviews, including with groups of elders, women and youth from Edayyanchavadi. Based on the work we witnessed the presentation – Toursim Impact Management Framework on Saturday afternoon at SAIIER Conference Hall with their recommendations for the framework with some short and long term plans, emphasizing that planning should be collaborative with the regional planning bodies and the board of tourism in Pondicherry. On the other side education on what ideals Auroville stands for should be present in the local villages around Auroville in order to create a fruitful collaboration and harmonious development of the area.