You know how in cities like Barcelona or Lisbon, Airbnb and mass tourism have pushed rents sky-high and squeezed out local residents? SMARTDEST studied exactly that problem across 8 European cities. They set up local labs — called CityLabs — where residents, city officials, and tech people worked together to design practical solutions, both digital tools and governance approaches. The goal was to figure out how cities can benefit from tourism without sacrificing the people who actually live there.
European cities face a growing conflict between tourism revenue and resident wellbeing — rising rents, overcrowded public services, displaced communities, and eroding neighborhood identity. City governments and tourism operators lack evidence-based tools to measure these trade-offs and tested governance approaches to manage them. Without intervention, cities risk both social backlash against tourism and loss of the authentic character that attracts visitors in the first place.
SMARTDEST produced CityLab governance models tested in 8 European cities, 2 sets of policy briefs on tourism mobility and social exclusion, an Innovation Camp methodology adapted from the EU Joint Research Centre for local problem-solving, co-learning workshop formats for advocacy networks, and 17 total deliverables covering urban mobility analysis, community engagement tools, and policy transfer mechanisms.
If you are a city tourism board struggling to balance visitor numbers with resident quality of life — this project developed CityLab governance models tested across 8 case study cities that show how to design place-based and people-based solutions for managing tourism externalities. The policy briefs and co-learning workshop outputs provide ready-to-adapt approaches for your city.
If you are a PropTech company dealing with the challenge of measuring tourism's impact on housing costs and neighborhood change — this project produced research across 8 cities analyzing how mobile dwelling patterns (short-term rentals, digital nomads) transform local housing markets. The data models and indicators developed can feed into your analytics products to help cities monitor displacement risk.
If you are a smart city solutions provider looking to add citizen engagement capabilities to your platform — this project designed and tested digital and non-digital tools for inclusive urban governance through its CityLab approach in 8 European cities. The Innovation Camp methodology, originally from the EU Joint Research Centre, was adapted specifically for addressing tourism-driven social exclusion.
The project data does not include specific implementation costs. SMARTDEST was a publicly funded Research and Innovation Action, so the methodologies (CityLabs, Innovation Camps, policy briefs) are publicly available. Implementation costs would depend on city size and scope of deployment.
The project was designed with scale-up in mind — the 4th research package specifically focused on transferring local insights to broader EU policy. The consortium covered 8 countries and 8 case study cities, providing a diverse evidence base. The co-learning workshops and policy briefs were explicitly created to enable other cities to adapt the approaches.
As a publicly funded RIA project, the research outputs (policy briefs, methodologies, governance models) are generally open access. Based on available project data, no patents or proprietary technology licenses are indicated. The CityLab approach and Innovation Camp methodology are adaptable governance processes, not patented products.
SMARTDEST directly addresses EU urban policy agendas on social inclusion and sustainable tourism. The project produced 2 sets of policy briefs and engaged with concern communities active in EU policy advocacy. Its outputs align with Smart City initiatives and urban cohesion policy goals.
SMARTDEST ran from January 2020 to September 2023 and is now closed. All 17 deliverables have been completed. The research outputs, CityLab methodologies, and policy briefs are available for cities and companies to build upon.
The CityLab and Innovation Camp approaches require urban planning expertise and community engagement skills rather than deep technical specialization. The consortium was heavily academic (10 of 13 partners were universities), so translating the research into operational tools may require additional integration work.
The SMARTDEST consortium of 13 partners across 8 countries is overwhelmingly academic — 10 universities, 1 research organization, 1 industry partner, and 1 other entity. With only 8% industry participation and just 1 SME, this is a research-driven project. For a business looking to commercialize these outputs, the low industry ratio means the findings are credible and peer-reviewed but will need significant translation work to become operational tools or services. The geographic spread across Austria, Spain, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and the UK provides diverse urban contexts, which strengthens the transferability of the governance models developed.
The coordinator is Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Spain. SciTransfer can facilitate an introduction to discuss applying CityLab methodologies or accessing research outputs.
Want to apply SMARTDEST's urban governance tools to your city or platform? SciTransfer can connect you with the research team and help translate their findings into your operational context.
