A Longitudinal Analysis of Territorial Social Innovations in a Touristic Route

Abstract

This research’s objective is a longitudinal analysis of the ways in which the actors of a touristic route established their strategies, developed their actions and interacted in order to generate a social innovation. Specifically, it is an attempt to identify the main changes occurred in the romantic route (RR) over the past three years, as well as to analyse the benefits derived from the social innovation to the municipalities that are part of the romantic route. As a research strategy, the case study of the romantic route was used, through semi-structured interviews made in two different moments: 2011 and 2013.This research conclude that the romantic route, whose primary objective was not social, has developed, over the course of its history, initiatives and different social actions throughout the route, bringing a better quality of life to the population through the social and economic development of the municipalities.

Keywords

• Social Innovation
• Territorial Innovation
• Actor-Network Theory
• Romantic Route.