Planning for Sustainable Tourism Based on Green Infrastructure: A Multiscale Methodology for Revitalizing Depopulated Rural Landscapes

The abandonment and decline of rural regions are conveying huge challenges to their planning and management. The extraordinary natural and cultural values the landscapes of these regions usually display, coupled with the growing need for urban populations to reconnect with nature, have led to an increased demand for these territories for tourism activities. However, the high sensibility of most of these landscapes requires that the promotion of tourism activities be well thought out and regulated. Therefore, it is necessary to devise strategies to implement a sustainable tourism that can boost the economy and secure the population and, simultaneously, protect the values in presence. In this chapter, a methodology is proposed that approaches the landscape planning from a multiscale perspective, based on (1) a macroanalysis grounded on green and blue infrastructures, (2) the delimitation of areas with distinct landscape character, (3) the identification and requalification of strategic microsites and links following a rural acupuncture concept, and (4) the implementation of a local sustainable tourism network that is expected to have a broad impact in the whole region. The applicability of the proposed methodology was tested in a case study in the north of Portugal, specifically in the Olo river basin.