This paper is inspired by previous research that emphasizes the role of tourists, who are seen as one of the actors in co-creating smart and sustainable urban destinations. Along with these indications, we consider tourists important stakeholders in the process of waterfront development in the city of Turku, while concentrating on the transformation of the Turku harbour area, guided by the city’s aims of becoming a smart and sustainable city (Turku Climate…). Therefore, the paper builds on the literature of urban public space, smart city/smart port, as well as smart and sustainable tourism. 

The paper is based on the results of the research project ‘Smart Port City: Towards digitally enhanced integration of port and city operations’ that was inspired by the upcoming spatial transformation in the harbour area in the city of Turku where the implementation of the new joint terminal (will be completed by the year 2027), the land area around Turku Castle and Aura River estuary (Linnanniemi area), will be freed for urban development. In its vision, Turku positions itself as ‘the capital of the world’s most beautiful archipelago’ by interweaving the city and the archipelago more tightly together (The Vision…). Along with the upcoming spatial changes, the city will be able to answer the need for new urban areas for residential, recreational, and commercial use. During the transformation of the Turku harbour area, a special consideration will be given to sustainability and the city’s efforts of becoming carbon neutral, while preserving its unique history and identity. According to the plans, Linnanniemi area will be developed into a new neighborhood featuring public art and hosting rich cultural events.

Moreover, the harbor city reference plan considers the future of Linnanniemi area ‘as a place for residence and businesses, but also as a tourist destination’ (Linnanniemen…emphasis made by authors). In addition, along with construction of the new joint terminal, supporting optimised land utilization and public accessibility, digital solutions will be implemented which support also the enhancement of the flow of passengers and the cruise tourists at the port of Turku (Chen et al., forthcoming; Edelman et al., 2022). 

On one hand, we draw from the theories of urban public space, that emphasize the social-spatial relationships whereby meanings are constructed about physical urban environment (Madanipour, 2003, 2010, 2023; Paadam et al., 2016) that in turn might contribute to competitive advantage of the public space. In order for the waterfront of Turku, that extends towards the harbor area in the near future (The Vision…), to gain its competitive advantage as a valued tourist destination, there is a need to concentrate on the tourism sector. On the other hand, we make use of the concept ‘smart’ that has been linked to cities, ports, mobility, destinations, and tourism to name a few. In general, it means relying on technology, connectivity and vast amounts of data to enhance user experience, competitiveness and sustainability (see Ye et al 2020; Gretzel et al 2016). With respect to cities, it has been conceived for example as ‘using technologies innovatively to achieve resource optimization, effective and fair governance, sustainability and quality of life’ (Gretzel et al. 2015, 179). Smart tourism has been defined as a ‘phenomenon in which tourism destinations, practitioners, and tourists depend accumulatively on emerging ICTs that enable colossal data transformation into value proposition’ (Ye et al 2020, 3400), and it has been recognized as initiating a paradigm shift in tourism industry (Boes et al 2016, 108 refer to Buhalis 2015).  

However, ‘smart’ is not only about technology and data. As pointed out by Boes et al (2016), besides its ‘hard’ aspects, there is also ‘soft’ smartness that constitutes of innovation, leadership and social capital supported by heterogeneous human actors . Boes et al (ibid.) state that even though ICT is a critical enabler of smartness, it is insufficient on its own. The authors (ibid, 108) make use of the ‘service dominant logic ecosystem structure’  where both hard and soft components of smartness  are needed for providing sustained competitive advantage and enhance quality of life of both residents and tourists (for the seminal work on dominant logic of marketing, see Vargo & Lusch, 2004). In the same tone, Liburd et al (2017, 35) indicate that smart can be understood as ‘empathic, flexible, intimate and sustainable by attending to people, their situations and experience’.

, Along with these theoretical discussions it might be concluded, that smart tourism acknowledges the tourists’ active participation in co-creating the touristic experience (Gretzel at al 2015; Boes et al 2016). Furthermore, Liburd et al (2017, 2022) challenge the role of tourists as ‘end-users’ for whom sustainable tourism is developed and place them as active agents with whom sustainable tourism is co-designed. 

Following the idea of sustainable and smart tourism to be collaboratively created by different stakeholders, our study aims to answer the following research questions: 

• How the role of tourists is conceived by various actors such as City of Turku, Port of Turku, and those responsible for developing tourism (e.g., Visit Turku) in co-creating a smart and sustainable waterfront of the city of Turku for becoming a tourist destination?
• How the harbor area with its surroundings is able to encourage incoming tourists to engage in co-creating a smart and sustainable costal city?

In line with the idea of smart city, attention will be paid especially to the information and contents available to tourists as well as provided by the tourists, and coordination between the different (municipal) actors.

As this paper is part of the ongoing project, we can present the preliminary analysis of the interviews conducted with representatives of the City of Turku, Visit Turku organization as well as Port of Turku. The overall project, however, includes the study of tourists and ferry passengers, amongst other stakeholders, that will be involved in next phases of our analysis. 

In addition, the analysis of the secondary material provided by the City of Turku is used in this paper, such as the city strategy, city climate plan, mobility plan, development plan of the Castle and harbor area, as well as the website of Visit Turku. The research material is analysed qualitatively, utilizing thematic analysis and following abductive logic (Dubois & Gadde, 2002). Preliminary analysis of the secondary data, conducted based on various documents provided by the City of Turku, indicates that tourists are considered as contributing to the lively and international atmosphere pursued by the city. In terms of smartness, sustainable transportation and smart mobility solutions seem to be highlighted regarding ferry passengers. However, more data will be needed to get a richer picture of the case.