Creativiteit als proces voor duurzame toerismeontwikkeling: de creatieve steden van de Centro regio in Portugal

This dissertation challenges the product-oriented definition of creativity, reframing it as an experimental, iterative process as advocated by Charles Landry. It explores how creativity drives sustainable tourism through destination design, fostering connections between people and creative experiences. Focusing on small Creative Cities in Portugal's Centro Region, Lefebvre's spatial theory is used to analyze how spaces are planned, experienced, and interacted with by diverse stakeholders. Combining policy analysis with creative-qualitative methods—such as autoethnography, ethnography, and arts-based tools—the research bridges macro-level insights with lived experiences. A novel methodology, 'User Experience in Real Life' (UX IRL), emphasizes practical, user-centered design to enhance tourism. The findings highlight challenges in aligning policy with practice, particularly in multi-stakeholder collaboration, user experience, and disparities in cultural rankings between large and small cities. Critiquing the dominance of economic metrics and limited awareness of creative tourism, the study calls for redefining creativity's meaning in tourism policy, advocating adaptive, context-sensitive approaches for sustainability.