Collaborative Learning Abroad

2014

Tourism in Local Planning and Development
Chiba University
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

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Tourism & Development

GlobalStudy
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"For the things we have to learn before we cando, we learn by doing."

descriptions of our activities with other students,staff, and the general public.

T

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics (II.1103a33). c.325 BC.

he main program was framed in the following
way: in order to start thinking about tourism
in local development planning, the students
first walked through the city of Thessaloniki andproduced a map of how they thought tourists
saw the city. They then had to listen and learn
to interpret the opinion of the locals, taking asa case-study the village of St. Antonios, which isconsidered to be hosting a successful example
of a tourism business that contributes to thelocal economy. The following week, they had toexperience the urban setting again, and consider
how it can be improved in order to make thelife of both locals and tourists more convenient.
Finally, students had to think of the future, andput the knowledge and experience acquired
during their fieldwork into practice, by producing
a business plan for an imaginary tourist venture.

Learning is a process. CIRE’s Global Study
Programs are short-term intensive andcollaborative study programs that bring Chiba
University students together with students fromour sister universities abroad to study and comeup with solutions about certain issues related tolife in the contemporary world.

Global Study Program 3 was hosted thisyear by the School of Spatial Planning andDevelopment, at the Faculty of Engineering ofAristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).
The topic was Tourism in Local Planning andDevelopment. The objective was to use the cityof Thessaloniki and its periphery as a case-study
for 13 Chiba University students and 14 Aristotle
University students to collaboratively learn andthink about the variety of issues that arise from,and possible solutions to the impact of tourism
on urban and agricultural communities.

In the last day of the program, groups ofstudents presented their findings along twovectors (represented in orange and purple color
on the next page) : 1) suggestions for improving
the walkability of the city of Thessaloniki, andparticularly of its waterfront; and 2) a businessplan that would increase the financial benefitsof the Women’s Agricultural Cooperative ofSt Antonios. Employing a technique of mixing
students, which made sure that every student
had worked on both vectors and had collaborated
with a maximum number of other students, theprogram can be said to have been successful intranscending socio-cultural backgrounds and inleading to a really collaborative product.

T

he program took almost a year to set up andincluded two preliminary visits of Thessaloniki
by Chiba University staff, in order to establish
a partnership with Aristotle University and todiscuss the concept and format of GSP with thelocal coordinator. Subsequently, the schedule,
content of lectures and activities, outcomes,
administrative tasks and other logistical aspectsof the program were decided upon discussion
and collaboration between the two universities.
A blog (authchiba2014.wordpress.com ) wasalso set up to share photos, videos and short
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5/23

5/9

6/27
5/23

Pre-course

Keita
Kazuki
Hanako
Akane
Risa
Rika
Munetoshi
MinaAkiyoshi
Emi
Joka
Shunsuke
Ohra

7/18

education

5/9

Participants

6/277/18

8/6
8/8

8/8

8/21

8/26

Day 1: Guided tour of Thessaloniki and8/21
intercultural exchange

Avgerinos
ThanosAlexandra
Despina
Dimitris K.
GeorgeDimitris T.
Yannis T.
Elizabeth
IoannaYannis A.
Fillipos
Konstantina
ElliTeam 1
Group 6

8/26
development,
8/27 Day 2: Lectures on tourism

Group 1

followed by field research in Thessaloniki

8/28
8/29

8/27
Day 3: Lectures on
Agritourism, followed byfield research in the village of St. Antonios

Group 5

8/28

Team 2

Team 6

Day 10:Final Presentations

Day 4: 8/26
Workshop 1

8/29

8/30
8/30

8/31

9/4

Day 7: Lectures onurban planning,
followed by fieldresearch along thewaterfront

Days 5-6: Tour of theKassandra peninsula

9/1

9/3

9/2

Group 3
Team 4

Day 9: Workshop 2

Day 8: Lectureson the businessaspects of the tourist
industry, followed bya workshop

8/6

9/2

8/31

Team 3

Team 5
1
Group 4

Group 2

9/1
Teams presented on Urban planningGroups presented on Agritourism

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Collaborativity
aryiplincsi3) Ddgewleknotmen
uireqca2) Cultu
ralerstandingundCulture1) Logistics

ExperienceP

Knowledge

Languagecrisis-management). The next two parts,
cultural understanding and disciplinary
knowledge acquirement, respectively aimed
at refining students’ critical perspective bothof their own culture and of the other party’sculture, and of ensuring that they come incontact with foundational concepts and terms
used by the disciplinary content of the course.

re-course education was held over sevenclass meetings and was composed ofthree main parts framed around the fourbasic targets of study abroad, enhanced bya “third dimension,” that of collaborativity.
The first part addressed logistical matters(explanations of the program, buyingof airplane tickets and other necessary
preparations, and a thorough seminar on

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B

B

efore going to Thessaloniki, we
split into four groups and preparedgroup presentations on topics related tocontemporary Japan: ‘vending machines
and local communities’, ‘cameras and theJapanese’, ‘masked heroes and social capital’and ‘chiiku (educational) snack’. These topics
were based on the four most popular videos
that are listed up on YouTube using ‘Japan’(in Greek) as a search keyword. Through ourpresentations, we expressed our desire toovercome stereotypes about our country,
while also offering new ways of looking at
Japanese contemporary culture. (Ohra)

efore leaving Japan, AUTh lecturers
had sent us academic papers to readin advance of our arrival on the topic oftourism in local planning and development.
Although, at first we were not familiar with
the issues faced by Greece in regards totourism, we collaborated on making keyword
lists and summaries of each paper, and by
doing that work we acquired some basic
knowledge on the topic, and started thinkingof possible solutions to the problems at hand.
(Mina & Hanako)To further prepare for the discussions andpresentations at Aristotle University, we
searched for information on case-studies
from Chiba prefecture and Chiba city inthe following six fields: Urban Planning,Agritourism, Public Transport, Portdevelopment, Trade, and Tourism industry.
We were divided into six groups and eachgroup discovered many devices that are inapplication in Chiba, and which may help
us solve some problems in Thessaloniki.
Moreover, we could understand more
about our own city through this process.
(Emi & Akane)

We tried discussion training in one of the
pre-course education classes. We had
to use English and speak one after another,while avoiding silent intervals. The purposeof the training was to become more familiar
with fast talking and discussion. It was not
usual for us, so we had a hard time. I tried tosay just something or other though it might
be wrong. After that, I knew the importantthing was showing positive attitude aroundme. (Risa)

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In Greece, we stayed at the University’shostel, which was located on the waterfront.
Every morning we had a great view of
the Aegean Sea. The building was old, sosometimes the power went off and we fixed
it in cooperation with other international
students. The temperature was about thesame as Japan, but the sunlight was so strongthat it was hard to go out between 1 and5p.m. The local lifestyle was also different toours; for example lunch starts at 1 or 2 p.m,and dinner starts at 9 p.m., and students weresometimes a bit lax with time. But we got
used to it. In the supermarket, it was hard for
us to buy foods because every explanation
was written in Greek. But actually it was fun.
We enjoyed shopping since there are a lotof foods and goods which we don’t know.
The local food was served in large portions,and was cheap and delicious. I personallylike Gyros, a Greek kebab with fried potatoes,
and frappé, a coffee beverage with frothy
layer on it. In Thessaloniki, it was rare to see
Asians, let alone Japanese, so sometimes wefelt people’s looks. The students in AUTh werevery kind. Some students know Japaneseculture very well, especially anime, and someeven learned Japanese by watching anime.
The companionship of Greek students was soexcellent that we had a good time throughout
the program even on the weekend, when wevisited the summer camp of Kalandra withthem. (Keita & Hanako)

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O

ur first fieldwork exercise was to makean image map of Thessaloniki. The map
needed to reflect how both Japanese andGreek students look at the city, so in-groupinteractions were a very important part of
the task. We saw, for example, lots of graffiti
throughout the streets, just next to historicalbuildings of Thessaloniki. This surprised us,
but also allowed us to view the way people
experience their cities from a new angle.
Listening to the local students’ explanations
about the Christian heritage of Thessaloniki,and about the atmosphere of each districtwas also very interesting. And, for Greek
students too, this task was an opportunity
to see their city from a different perspective.
(Akiyoshi & Mina)L

earning and assessing a sustainableurban mobility plan was one of the main
points of this exercise. Students working ingroups were assigned a walking area, forinstance, Thessaloniki’s famous waterfront.
Then, using checklists provided by thelecturers, each group rated the walkabilityof their area. Groups tended to be satisfied
with the seafront area as it is wide andcomfortable enough to walk, while mostgroups identified the lack of parking space
and the ensuing random parking of cars onpedestrian pathways as a serious problem ofThessaloniki’s streets. (Kazuki & Akane)

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A

fter listening to a lecture on agritourism,
we visited a Women’s Agricultural
Cooperative (WAC) located in the village of St.
Antonios, in the outskirts of Thessaloniki. Eachof the Japanese students was paired with a
Greek student, and every team conducted astreet-survey using a questionnaire provided
by the lecturer. Most of the women in thevillage could only speak Greek, so Japanese
students had to fully collaborate with theGreek students to do the interviews. After thesurvey, we discovered some of the issues that
St Antonios’ WAC is facing today. (Shunsuke)B

ased on an analysis of the street-survey,
each team came up with a business planthat could help the WAC develop its activities.
One of the teams created Mrs.Pie, which
is a mascot-character based on the local
pie, perek , made by the WAC. The idea wasinspired by Chiba-kun, the mascot characterof Chiba prefecture. Considering that thiskind of advertisement is new in Greece,
our team thought that Mrs. Pie would help
attracting attention to the WAC’s products.
For devising the business plan, students also
made a market analysis and identified a target
clientele. (Rika)

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On August 30, we stayed at the camp ofAristotle University in Kalandra. It has avery beautiful beach. We swam in the sea andafter dinner we went to a local festival, where
we watched traditional dances from various
regions of Greece. After that, we went to thebeach and watched the beautiful stars andthe moon. Some students waited until thesunrise. (Emi)8140913GSP3Greece_2.9_CSCC.indd

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For the final day, groups and teams fromthe four activities got together to combine
their findings into a final presentation.
The four activities were aimed to look atspace, listen to the people, experience theenvironment, and produce a business planfor the future. Each group was to find links
between the activities, summarize them andestablish a connection with the next group'spresentation. This process required a lot ofinteraction between the different groups andit pushed students to actively communicate
with each other. One group found out
through the survey held in a local village thatthe activities of the Women’s Cooperative
were not able to keep the young population
within the village. So, after an analysis of
the current market, the group came up witha business plan which may help solve theproblem. The plan was to build and run ahotel that serves local food. There were threebasic targets; the local youth, for whom thehotel would provide a place to work and an
incentive to stay in the village, the tourists
drawn by the agro-tourist character of thevillage, and hopefully investors who mighttake interest in the business once it takes off.
Also, the hotel could function as a means ofcreating connections with the local suppliers,
contributing thus to the economic activitiesof the area. (Munetoshi)

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Afterthoughts
The idea of a mascot character like Chiba-kun is familiar to me but not to a Greek student. I foundout that things I consider ordinary are not ordinary to others. (Rika)
I realized that just being able to convey my idea was not enough. When it comes to a discussion,
I have to convey my thoughts in a persuasive manner. (Keita)
In an exchange of opinions, differences of nationality and language do not matter. It’s theinteraction of two persons that only matters. (Ohra)
Spending time in Greece with all the members of this program was a great experience. I hopesomeday we can enjoy Greek meals again. (Shunsuke)
It was a great opportunity to learn both about local tourism and about student life in Greece as
we had a lot of opportunities to interact with Greek students. (Kazuki)
Even though I felt that I needed more English language skills, I could enjoy the program because
all students of Aristotle University were really kind to me. This was a great experience! (Akane)
Participating in this program broadened my mind. I had several opportunities to better myself,
including an unforgettable experience. (Hanako)
It was great to not be treated as a fresher despite me being the only first-year student of theprogram. And I was moved by the Greek members’ omotenashi . I think this program was reallyworthwhile. (Risa)
Learning about Greek customs and talking with Greek students over dinner were the highlightsof my experience. Living briefly in a different world provided me also the chance to look at Japan
from a different perspective. (Mina)
At first I was afraid of speaking in English. But because my group members helped me, I could
participate in the discussions. It was a very good experience for me. (Emi)
There were many differences in thoughts and ideas, even within Chiba University students, but itis through working with all these different people that new ideas were born. (Munetoshi)This program was an unforgettable and stimulating experience. I realized the importance ofexpressing my thoughts clearly and listen to my interlocutors. (Akiyoshi)
It was a precious experience for me to meet all those who participated in this program and tolearn from them the importance of conveying my opinion with firmness. (Joka)
A long time ago Aristotle wrote "the antidote for fifty enemies is one friend." Thus making somany remarkable friends, I don't have to worry about enemies. (Avgerinos)
I realized that the combination of different scientific fields is very important as it can give a newperspective on an engineering problem like the walkability of a street. (Konstantina)
I feel that the whole process wasn't just a sterile learning of new skills. It was a wonderfulexperience that led to wonderful friendship ties, overcoming any linguistic and culturaldifference. (Thanos)
Language and cultural barriers are not important in communication. What matters is the passion
for conveying a message between equally motivated to communicate persons. (Dimitris T.)

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GlobalStudy
Program2014

Tourism in Local Planning& Development in Greece

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