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Overtourism Effects: Positive and Negative Impacts for Sustainable Development

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• First Online: 02 October 2020
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• Ivana Damnjanović 7  

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

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Responsible tourism ; Tourism overcrowding ; Tourism-phobia ; Tourist-phobia

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Tourism today is paradoxically dominated by two opposite aspects: its sustainable character and overtourism. Since its creation by Skift in 2016 (Ali 2016 ), the term “overtourism” has been a buzzword in media and academic circles, although it may only be a new word for a problem discussed over the past three decades.

Overtourism is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon destructive to tourism resources and harmful to destination communities’ well-being through overcrowding and overuse (Center for Responsible Travel 2018 ; International Ecotourism Society 2019 ) as certain locations at times cannot withstand physical, ecological, social, economic, psychological, and/or political pressures of tourism (Peeters et al. 2018 ). Overtourism is predominantly a problem producing deteriorated quality of life of local communities (Responsible Tourism n.d. ; The International Ecotourism Society 2019 ; UNWTO 2018...

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Damnjanović, I. (2020). Overtourism Effects: Positive and Negative Impacts for Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71059-4_112-1

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The future of tourism: Bridging the labor gap, enhancing customer experience

As travel resumes and builds momentum, it’s becoming clear that tourism is resilient—there is an enduring desire to travel. Against all odds, international tourism rebounded in 2022: visitor numbers to Europe and the Middle East climbed to around 80 percent of 2019 levels, and the Americas recovered about 65 percent of prepandemic visitors 1 “Tourism set to return to pre-pandemic levels in some regions in 2023,” United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), January 17, 2023. —a number made more significant because it was reached without travelers from China, which had the world’s largest outbound travel market before the pandemic. 2 “ Outlook for China tourism 2023: Light at the end of the tunnel ,” McKinsey, May 9, 2023.

Recovery and growth are likely to continue. According to estimates from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for 2023, international tourist arrivals could reach 80 to 95 percent of prepandemic levels depending on the extent of the economic slowdown, travel recovery in Asia–Pacific, and geopolitical tensions, among other factors. 3 “Tourism set to return to pre-pandemic levels in some regions in 2023,” United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), January 17, 2023. Similarly, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) forecasts that by the end of 2023, nearly half of the 185 countries in which the organization conducts research will have either recovered to prepandemic levels or be within 95 percent of full recovery. 4 “Global travel and tourism catapults into 2023 says WTTC,” World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), April 26, 2023.

Longer-term forecasts also point to optimism for the decade ahead. Travel and tourism GDP is predicted to grow, on average, at 5.8 percent a year between 2022 and 2032, outpacing the growth of the overall economy at an expected 2.7 percent a year. 5 Travel & Tourism economic impact 2022 , WTTC, August 2022.

So, is it all systems go for travel and tourism? Not really. The industry continues to face a prolonged and widespread labor shortage. After losing 62 million travel and tourism jobs in 2020, labor supply and demand remain out of balance. 6 “WTTC research reveals Travel & Tourism’s slow recovery is hitting jobs and growth worldwide,” World Travel & Tourism Council, October 6, 2021. Today, in the European Union, 11 percent of tourism jobs are likely to go unfilled; in the United States, that figure is 7 percent. 7 Travel & Tourism economic impact 2022 : Staff shortages, WTTC, August 2022.

There has been an exodus of tourism staff, particularly from customer-facing roles, to other sectors, and there is no sign that the industry will be able to bring all these people back. 8 Travel & Tourism economic impact 2022 : Staff shortages, WTTC, August 2022. Hotels, restaurants, cruises, airports, and airlines face staff shortages that can translate into operational, reputational, and financial difficulties. If unaddressed, these shortages may constrain the industry’s growth trajectory.

The current labor shortage may have its roots in factors related to the nature of work in the industry. Chronic workplace challenges, coupled with the effects of COVID-19, have culminated in an industry struggling to rebuild its workforce. Generally, tourism-related jobs are largely informal, partly due to high seasonality and weak regulation. And conditions such as excessively long working hours, low wages, a high turnover rate, and a lack of social protection tend to be most pronounced in an informal economy. Additionally, shift work, night work, and temporary or part-time employment are common in tourism.

The industry may need to revisit some fundamentals to build a far more sustainable future: either make the industry more attractive to talent (and put conditions in place to retain staff for longer periods) or improve products, services, and processes so that they complement existing staffing needs or solve existing pain points.

One solution could be to build a workforce with the mix of digital and interpersonal skills needed to keep up with travelers’ fast-changing requirements. The industry could make the most of available technology to provide customers with a digitally enhanced experience, resolve staff shortages, and improve working conditions.

Would you like to learn more about our Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure Practice ?

Complementing concierges with chatbots.

The pace of technological change has redefined customer expectations. Technology-driven services are often at customers’ fingertips, with no queues or waiting times. By contrast, the airport and airline disruption widely reported in the press over the summer of 2022 points to customers not receiving this same level of digital innovation when traveling.

Imagine the following travel experience: it’s 2035 and you start your long-awaited honeymoon to a tropical island. A virtual tour operator and a destination travel specialist booked your trip for you; you connected via videoconference to make your plans. Your itinerary was chosen with the support of generative AI , which analyzed your preferences, recommended personalized travel packages, and made real-time adjustments based on your feedback.

Before leaving home, you check in online and QR code your luggage. You travel to the airport by self-driving cab. After dropping off your luggage at the self-service counter, you pass through security and the biometric check. You access the premier lounge with the QR code on the airline’s loyalty card and help yourself to a glass of wine and a sandwich. After your flight, a prebooked, self-driving cab takes you to the resort. No need to check in—that was completed online ahead of time (including picking your room and making sure that the hotel’s virtual concierge arranged for red roses and a bottle of champagne to be delivered).

While your luggage is brought to the room by a baggage robot, your personal digital concierge presents the honeymoon itinerary with all the requested bookings. For the romantic dinner on the first night, you order your food via the restaurant app on the table and settle the bill likewise. So far, you’ve had very little human interaction. But at dinner, the sommelier chats with you in person about the wine. The next day, your sightseeing is made easier by the hotel app and digital guide—and you don’t get lost! With the aid of holographic technology, the virtual tour guide brings historical figures to life and takes your sightseeing experience to a whole new level. Then, as arranged, a local citizen meets you and takes you to their home to enjoy a local family dinner. The trip is seamless, there are no holdups or snags.

This scenario features less human interaction than a traditional trip—but it flows smoothly due to the underlying technology. The human interactions that do take place are authentic, meaningful, and add a special touch to the experience. This may be a far-fetched example, but the essence of the scenario is clear: use technology to ease typical travel pain points such as queues, misunderstandings, or misinformation, and elevate the quality of human interaction.

Travel with less human interaction may be considered a disruptive idea, as many travelers rely on and enjoy the human connection, the “service with a smile.” This will always be the case, but perhaps the time is right to think about bringing a digital experience into the mix. The industry may not need to depend exclusively on human beings to serve its customers. Perhaps the future of travel is physical, but digitally enhanced (and with a smile!).

Digital solutions are on the rise and can help bridge the labor gap

Digital innovation is improving customer experience across multiple industries. Car-sharing apps have overcome service-counter waiting times and endless paperwork that travelers traditionally had to cope with when renting a car. The same applies to time-consuming hotel check-in, check-out, and payment processes that can annoy weary customers. These pain points can be removed. For instance, in China, the Huazhu Hotels Group installed self-check-in kiosks that enable guests to check in or out in under 30 seconds. 9 “Huazhu Group targets lifestyle market opportunities,” ChinaTravelNews, May 27, 2021.

Technology meets hospitality

In 2019, Alibaba opened its FlyZoo Hotel in Huangzhou, described as a “290-room ultra-modern boutique, where technology meets hospitality.” 1 “Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has a hotel run almost entirely by robots that can serve food and fetch toiletries—take a look inside,” Business Insider, October 21, 2019; “FlyZoo Hotel: The hotel of the future or just more technology hype?,” Hotel Technology News, March 2019. The hotel was the first of its kind that instead of relying on traditional check-in and key card processes, allowed guests to manage reservations and make payments entirely from a mobile app, to check-in using self-service kiosks, and enter their rooms using facial-recognition technology.

The hotel is run almost entirely by robots that serve food and fetch toiletries and other sundries as needed. Each guest room has a voice-activated smart assistant to help guests with a variety of tasks, from adjusting the temperature, lights, curtains, and the TV to playing music and answering simple questions about the hotel and surroundings.

The hotel was developed by the company’s online travel platform, Fliggy, in tandem with Alibaba’s AI Labs and Alibaba Cloud technology with the goal of “leveraging cutting-edge tech to help transform the hospitality industry, one that keeps the sector current with the digital era we’re living in,” according to the company.

Adoption of some digitally enhanced services was accelerated during the pandemic in the quest for safer, contactless solutions. During the Winter Olympics in Beijing, a restaurant designed to keep physical contact to a minimum used a track system on the ceiling to deliver meals directly from the kitchen to the table. 10 “This Beijing Winter Games restaurant uses ceiling-based tracks,” Trendhunter, January 26, 2022. Customers around the world have become familiar with restaurants using apps to display menus, take orders, and accept payment, as well as hotels using robots to deliver luggage and room service (see sidebar “Technology meets hospitality”). Similarly, theme parks, cinemas, stadiums, and concert halls are deploying digital solutions such as facial recognition to optimize entrance control. Shanghai Disneyland, for example, offers annual pass holders the option to choose facial recognition to facilitate park entry. 11 “Facial recognition park entry,” Shanghai Disney Resort website.

Automation and digitization can also free up staff from attending to repetitive functions that could be handled more efficiently via an app and instead reserve the human touch for roles where staff can add the most value. For instance, technology can help customer-facing staff to provide a more personalized service. By accessing data analytics, frontline staff can have guests’ details and preferences at their fingertips. A trainee can become an experienced concierge in a short time, with the help of technology.

Apps and in-room tech: Unused market potential

According to Skift Research calculations, total revenue generated by guest apps and in-room technology in 2019 was approximately $293 million, including proprietary apps by hotel brands as well as third-party vendors. 1 “Hotel tech benchmark: Guest-facing technology 2022,” Skift Research, November 2022. The relatively low market penetration rate of this kind of tech points to around $2.4 billion in untapped revenue potential (exhibit).

Even though guest-facing technology is available—the kind that can facilitate contactless interactions and offer travelers convenience and personalized service—the industry is only beginning to explore its potential. A report by Skift Research shows that the hotel industry, in particular, has not tapped into tech’s potential. Only 11 percent of hotels and 25 percent of hotel rooms worldwide are supported by a hotel app or use in-room technology, and only 3 percent of hotels offer keyless entry. 12 “Hotel tech benchmark: Guest-facing technology 2022,” Skift Research, November 2022. Of the five types of technology examined (guest apps and in-room tech; virtual concierge; guest messaging and chatbots; digital check-in and kiosks; and keyless entry), all have relatively low market-penetration rates (see sidebar “Apps and in-room tech: Unused market potential”).

While apps, digitization, and new technology may be the answer to offering better customer experience, there is also the possibility that tourism may face competition from technological advances, particularly virtual experiences. Museums, attractions, and historical sites can be made interactive and, in some cases, more lifelike, through AR/VR technology that can enhance the physical travel experience by reconstructing historical places or events.

Up until now, tourism, arguably, was one of a few sectors that could not easily be replaced by tech. It was not possible to replicate the physical experience of traveling to another place. With the emerging metaverse , this might change. Travelers could potentially enjoy an event or experience from their sofa without any logistical snags, and without the commitment to traveling to another country for any length of time. For example, Google offers virtual tours of the Pyramids of Meroë in Sudan via an immersive online experience available in a range of languages. 13 Mariam Khaled Dabboussi, “Step into the Meroë pyramids with Google,” Google, May 17, 2022. And a crypto banking group, The BCB Group, has created a metaverse city that includes representations of some of the most visited destinations in the world, such as the Great Wall of China and the Statue of Liberty. According to BCB, the total cost of flights, transfers, and entry for all these landmarks would come to $7,600—while a virtual trip would cost just over $2. 14 “What impact can the Metaverse have on the travel industry?,” Middle East Economy, July 29, 2022.

The metaverse holds potential for business travel, too—the meeting, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) sector in particular. Participants could take part in activities in the same immersive space while connecting from anywhere, dramatically reducing travel, venue, catering, and other costs. 15 “ Tourism in the metaverse: Can travel go virtual? ,” McKinsey, May 4, 2023.

The allure and convenience of such digital experiences make offering seamless, customer-centric travel and tourism in the real world all the more pressing.

Three innovations to solve hotel staffing shortages

Is the future contactless.

Given the advances in technology, and the many digital innovations and applications that already exist, there is potential for businesses across the travel and tourism spectrum to cope with labor shortages while improving customer experience. Process automation and digitization can also add to process efficiency. Taken together, a combination of outsourcing, remote work, and digital solutions can help to retain existing staff and reduce dependency on roles that employers are struggling to fill (exhibit).

Depending on the customer service approach and direct contact need, we estimate that the travel and tourism industry would be able to cope with a structural labor shortage of around 10 to 15 percent in the long run by operating more flexibly and increasing digital and automated efficiency—while offering the remaining staff an improved total work package.

Outsourcing and remote work could also help resolve the labor shortage

While COVID-19 pushed organizations in a wide variety of sectors to embrace remote work, there are many hospitality roles that rely on direct physical services that cannot be performed remotely, such as laundry, cleaning, maintenance, and facility management. If faced with staff shortages, these roles could be outsourced to third-party professional service providers, and existing staff could be reskilled to take up new positions.

In McKinsey’s experience, the total service cost of this type of work in a typical hotel can make up 10 percent of total operating costs. Most often, these roles are not guest facing. A professional and digital-based solution might become an integrated part of a third-party service for hotels looking to outsource this type of work.

One of the lessons learned in the aftermath of COVID-19 is that many tourism employees moved to similar positions in other sectors because they were disillusioned by working conditions in the industry . Specialist multisector companies have been able to shuffle their staff away from tourism to other sectors that offer steady employment or more regular working hours compared with the long hours and seasonal nature of work in tourism.

The remaining travel and tourism staff may be looking for more flexibility or the option to work from home. This can be an effective solution for retaining employees. For example, a travel agent with specific destination expertise could work from home or be consulted on an needs basis.

In instances where remote work or outsourcing is not viable, there are other solutions that the hospitality industry can explore to improve operational effectiveness as well as employee satisfaction. A more agile staffing model  can better match available labor with peaks and troughs in daily, or even hourly, demand. This could involve combining similar roles or cross-training staff so that they can switch roles. Redesigned roles could potentially improve employee satisfaction by empowering staff to explore new career paths within the hotel’s operations. Combined roles build skills across disciplines—for example, supporting a housekeeper to train and become proficient in other maintenance areas, or a front-desk associate to build managerial skills.

Where management or ownership is shared across properties, roles could be staffed to cover a network of sites, rather than individual hotels. By applying a combination of these approaches, hotels could reduce the number of staff hours needed to keep operations running at the same standard. 16 “ Three innovations to solve hotel staffing shortages ,” McKinsey, April 3, 2023.

Taken together, operational adjustments combined with greater use of technology could provide the tourism industry with a way of overcoming staffing challenges and giving customers the seamless digitally enhanced experiences they expect in other aspects of daily life.

In an industry facing a labor shortage, there are opportunities for tech innovations that can help travel and tourism businesses do more with less, while ensuring that remaining staff are engaged and motivated to stay in the industry. For travelers, this could mean fewer friendly faces, but more meaningful experiences and interactions.

Urs Binggeli is a senior expert in McKinsey’s Zurich office, Zi Chen is a capabilities and insights specialist in the Shanghai office, Steffen Köpke is a capabilities and insights expert in the Düsseldorf office, and Jackey Yu is a partner in the Hong Kong office.

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75 for UN75: A Conversation on Rethinking Tourism

Last year marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, and as part of the 75th anniversary initiative UN75, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted the “75 for UN75: 75 Minutes of Conversation” series of online dialogues with academics, educators, researchers and students around the world, to discuss their priorities for the future, obstacles to achieving them, and the role of global cooperation in managing global issues. On 21 January 2021, UNAI hosted an Arabic language webinar on the theme “Rethinking Tourism” as part of this series.

On 21 January 2021, UNAI hosted a webinar entitled “75 Minutes of Conversation: Rethinking Tourism” to reflect on the importance of tourism to foster peace and protect cultural heritage, interconnections between tourism and global citizenship, how the tourism industry has been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and how it can recover better, the relevance of tourism to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and what role universities have in promoting and teaching about a more sustainable tourism industry.

Participants shared ideas and best practices to help the tourism sector recover as well as creating a more sustainable industry, and highlighted the adaptive solutions countries are employing to address these issues, with a special focus on the Arab world. Maher Nasser, Director of the Outreach Division of the United Nations Department of Global Communications, introduced the session by referring to the policy briefs issued by the United Nations Secretary-General including the one on transforming tourism , and shared the Secretary-General’s message on the importance of the tourism sector to the global economy and in sustaining cultural heritage.  

Ms. Basmah Al-Mayman, Regional Director for the Middle East at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and former manager of the International Organizations and Committees Department at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, said that a “rebound in international tourism is expected by the third quarter of this year and a potential return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels not before 2023.”  She added that UNWTO is working on several mechanisms to design and promote recommendations to revive tourism, developed with the context and realities of each country in mind.

Ms. Al-Mayman mentioned that in the Middle East and North Africa region, some countries are promoting domestic tourism given the lack of global travel. She also explained that some countries are offering travel vouchers that can be redeemed in the future while in others fees are being reduced or suspended altogether such as those related to the Hajj , the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Despite these efforts, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism can be felt at all levels in many countries, noted Dr. Suleiman A. D. Farajat, Chief Commissioner of the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (Jordan) and former professor of tourism at the University of Jordan.

Dr. Farajat noted the high unemployment in the Jordanian tourism sector as a direct consequence of the pandemic and the reduction in international arrivals in a country where tourism accounts for 20 per cent of the gross domestic product. “We have to aim at creating other sources of income seeing that the heavy reliance on tourism has proved to be challenging,” he warned.

Dr. Ghada Mohamed Wafik Abu Bak, Vice Dean for Education and Students Affairs of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels at Fayoum University (Egypt), stressed that sustainable tourism is a key factor for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and that it is and should be the “lifeline for rebuilding the tourism sector.”  Dr. Ghada also highlighted the role of academia in promoting the concept of sustainable tourism among students, advancing research projects related to it, and promoting sustainability among local communities.

Dr. Noureddine Selmi, Associate Professor of Marketing and Tourism at the HEC Carthage Business School (Tunisia) and former Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Tunisia, also emphasized the importance of higher education, noting that universities and colleges are critical given the relevance of foresight and oversight in dealing with any crisis, such as the one the tourism sector is currently experiencing. According to Dr. Selmi, this should entail monitoring, predicting and finding solutions and alternatives, while stressing the need to reaffirm the importance of Goal 17 within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , “in light of the momentum that partnerships have.”  

Prof. Salwa Mikdadi, Researcher of the Arab Center for the Study of Art at New York University Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), noted the growing interest in domestic tourism and that the use of technology in the tourism sector has grown as a result of the pandemic.  For example, the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi now offers virtual views of its exhibits, extending their potential reach globally and beyond in person visitors. Ms. Sophia Smith-Galer, a journalist with the BBC and winner of the Many Languages, One World (MLOW) International Essay Contest in Arabic, agreed with this assessment and stressed that there were many lessons to be taken from the pandemic regarding tourism, including the use of technology and social media platforms to offer cultural experiences and for intercultural exchange. 

Dr. Hafidh Al-Riyami, Assistant Professor at the College of Applied Sciences – Nizwa (Oman), talked about the strategy for tourism development in Oman, which aims to increase the tourism sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP. He also spoke about his own experience as a tour guide and how tourism helps to combat stereotypes about Muslims and Arabs. “Tourism can indeed bring people much closer to each other while encouraging respect among cultures and fostering dialogue,” Dr. Al-Riyami said.

The final panelist, Mr. Jason Pierce, editorial assistant with UN Chronicle magazine and a student of Arabic, talked about the strong connection between learning languages and tourism and noted that since the start of the pandemic, millions of people have started learning a new language through various platforms. Mr. Pierce concluded by asking how the tourism sector can leverage the new global interest in learning languages to advance recovery and increase intercultural dialogue. 

During the Q&A segment, attendees asked questions about the measures and procedures that need to be followed to rebuild domestic tourism to compensate for the emerging gap in international tourism, as well as what the tourism industry will look like post-COVID as some of the changes we have seen will clearly be with us for some time.

For more information on this topic, check out this list of resources:

• United Nations Secretary-General Policy Brief: COVID-19 and Transforming Tourism
• United Nations World Tourism Organization: Supporting Jobs and Economies through Travel & Tourism: A Call for Action to Mitigate the Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Accelerate Recovery
• World Health Organization: Public health considerations while resuming international travel
• World Bank Group: Rebuilding Tourism Competitiveness: Tourism response, recovery and resilience to the COVID-19 crisis
• United Nations World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Development Programme: Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals

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'Responsive street furniture' in cities could boost accessibility

Designer ross atkin thinks smart urban fixtures could make life easier for people with disabilities.

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Blind or disabled people are often required to adapt to the world around them, using aids like a guide dog or a wheelchair.

But what if the city itself could adapt to the individual needs of the people on the street? Imagine street lights that get brighter as a visually impaired pedestrian approaches, signs that can announce their location out loud, a street crossing that gives extra time to an elderly person, or benches that fold down for someone who needs a place to rest.

That's the vision of Ross Atkin, a British designer and engineer who has created what he calls "responsive street furniture." The urban fixtures connect to a nearby user's smartphone or programmable key fob, which provide details about the user's specific needs.

Inspired by the digital world

Atkin was inspired by the adaptability of digital devices and software.

"When we're doing accessibility in public space, we're constantly trying to just get to the best compromise between the needs of disabled people, because we've only got one street and it has to work for everyone," Atkin told CBC's Spark   with Nora Young, in an upcoming interview.

In contrast, said Atkin, digital tools like mobile devices and apps can be specifically tailored to individual users' needs.

"I realized that we could potentially apply some of that logic to the streets."

Atkin is working with landscaping firm Marshalls, which has already produced some prototype versions of his designs.

Making smart cities 'clever'

Atkin recognizes that smart cities can seem like a pie-in-the-sky idea. Some large companies pushing the technology, he told Spark , are "not really focused around the needs of actual people that live in cities."

"Coming from an accessibility point of view, there's so much stuff I know we could do if we had good, smart city systems, and there's so much more independence I know we could give to people," he said.

To that end, Atkin has  written a five-point manifesto  for what he calls the "clever city":

• Digital technologies embedded in cities can help solve people's problems.
• Technologies need to be build around the needs of specific people, not the needs of government or the private sector.
• Technologies should be as simple as possible, and easy to explain so people will want to use them.
• Technologies should collect as little data as possible to serve their purpose.
• Technologies don't have to be integrated into a top-down platform, but can address one problem at a time.

The challenges of the smart city

It's not hard to imagine the complications of a city with responsive street furniture, especially if lots of people were using the technology. For example, what would happen if multiple users with conflicting needs are travelling through the same part of a city?

"We'd have to introduce some kind of triage," said Atkin. "Effectively, certain people with certain needs [would trump] other people with other needs."

Although his manifesto calls for a simple approach that collects little user information, Atkin says his responsive street furniture might eventually require secure logins to deter mischief-makers.

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• 275: Smart beds, public light therapy, connected pets and more

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Reviving The San Cassiano – Paul Atkin Discusses His Plan to Rebuild The World’s First Public Opera House (Part 3)

Rebuilding Venice’s San Cassiano theatre will be a formidable task in and of itself, yet behind the scenes there is a raft of other issues and initiatives which need considerable attention.

In this third and final part of OperaWire’s interview, Paul Atkin, the man behind the project, discusses some of these concerns, including what it means to be a public opera house in the 21 st century, his ideas on how to embed the theatre within the community, the importance of educational projects and partnerships, as well as ongoing research into the links between musicology and performance and the uncovering of lost works.

It will be Atkin’s ability to attract investment and manage the financial side of the project that will ultimately determine whether or not San Cassiano will be built and the commercial success it will have to be as a profit-making enterprise. Most opera companies around Europe are supported by public funds, but in this case, it is not an option.

“When we started out, we called the project the Fondazione Teatro San Cassiano, but when assessed, the three publicly funded theatres in Venice – the Malibran, the Fenice, and the Goldoni – it soon became apparent that this option was not viable. Two things immediately became very clear. Firstly, that if we went down the public funding route, the project would die as Venice does not have the resources to fund four public theatres. It just wasn’t an option.

“Secondly, because it was literally impossible, no one was interested. The phrase we kept hearing was ‘come back when you have something concrete,'” Atkin continued. “Therefore, I realized at a very early stage that if we were to make this happen, I would have to put the money into the project and take the risk myself. I had to back my belief. If I fail it will cost me an awful lot, but I am fully convinced of its absolute necessity. Someone has to make this happen.”

Once he had accepted that public funds would not be available, Atkin quickly adapted to the idea of the project becoming an entirely private concern. Now he sees it as the preferred option.

“I am a businessman and the more I looked into this, the more I thought this is actually commercially viable. I thought that if we are building the theatre and performing the operas in an historically informed way, why don’t we run the theatre in an historically informed way? After all, the whole point of the San Cassiano is that it was a commercially viable theatre. It survived, despite occasional failures and disasters, from 1637 to 1812, albeit no operas were performed after 1798. That is a long period of success. We believe that by keeping the business small and commercial, we will have the flexibility which will allow us to embrace the future and to use modern ideas in a way that other opera houses cannot because they have bigger boards that prevent them from acting so freely or flexibly. This is the future, this is the way to go forward.

“If you look at The Globe and Glyndebourne, they both make £3 million profit a year from performances which they invest elsewhere, such as education. Why shouldn’t we adopt a similar philosophy? I have been attacked on social media for operating in this way, but why not? If I use the money to reinvest in the San Cassiano project and the community, then where is the harm? We seem to have a problem with even the idea of an opera company making a profit. In any other sector, if I invested £3 million, I would expect to earn at least enough to cover that amount, why wouldn’t I?”

Despite Atkin’s persuasive arguments, opera companies do have the reputation for swallowing up money with apparent ease, and it is not unusual to hear them complaining about the poor subsidies they receive from governments, often to the annoyance of an unsympathetic public. What, therefore, makes Atkin believe that he will be able to attract potential investors? On this matter, he is not only fully prepared but also very confident.

“I don’t come to potential investors with just a good idea, I come to them with a good idea plus practical examples, which proves that it can work. Rather than just inventing a business plan that I have simply put together in my head, my presentation takes two models: one sells our product, the opera at Versailles, and the other sells our location, that is Venice’s La Fenice. We have combined them. Take ticket pricing, for example, we will price tickets from €10 to €240 which is consistent with the prices charged by La Fenice and Versailles. This should generate €12.8 million over a 40-week season on ticket sales alone. I can run a theatre on that. If I couldn’t do that I would give up immediately.”

Clearly, he is expecting a larger revenue than this, given other possible revenue streams such as advertising, donations, and “sponsorships and naming rights where the future lies.” Furthermore, Atkin estimates the running costs for a full program of 40 weeks will amount to less than €10 million.

“The great thing about the theatre is that because the scene sets are painted on canvas and because we are talking about a low number of performers and a small orchestra our running costs are significantly reduced compared to modern operas.”

Atkin is, therefore, confident of making a good profit on the performances, but he is also planning to use at least part of it to finance other activities, such as educational outreach projects, research, and community programs, as well as “recovering lost works that may flop.” It ultimately comes down to one big question – will he be able to retain enough profit to attract investors?

“We will be able to create a return for our investors, but it is not the driver here. If you are looking to make comparable business returns, then maybe this is not the project for you. Can I get you your money back, and a little more? Yes! But the motivation has to be the San Cassiano and the need to restore to Venice the world’s first public opera house: it is about legacy, history and making an impact. I admit that there are better investment opportunities out there, which we can’t compete with. What we do offer, however, is a legacy, one in which you can write your name into the history of opera. On this, no one can compete with us!”

As to the building costs, they are not as great as may be expected. The construction cost will clock in at about €46 million and the operational cost for the four years it will take to construct will be around €20 million. In sum, the total expenditure up until opening night will be €66 million.

“Today we are in a period of risk and investors are hesitant as to whether we can deliver the project, given the reputation of the city. This is normal,” Atkin conceded. “But the support we have received in Venice from the mayor and the authorities has been excellent. So, the key is to start building. Once we start, we move into a position of certainty, people will see that it is happening and things will start to move rapidly.”

A Public Opera House For The 21 st Century

One aspect of the project to which Atkin has given considerable thought, both from a philosophical and a practical perspective, is to how a “public opera house” can be reimagined within a 21st-century context. His main goal is to place the theatre at the heart of the community with strong connections to the local economy, schools, universities, and the conservatory.

“It is commonly accepted that Venice is in a bit of trouble. The number of people living in the city is declining by a thousand a year, and presently has only a small population of somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000. This means the problem is immediate; the city doesn’t have much time to sort it out. So we have identified three areas in which we can make a contribution.”

“Firstly, there is regeneration. We will bring investment into the area in which the theatre is located,” he noted. “One key point I wish to return to is the profit motive which lies behind the enterprise. If we operated as a charitable foundation, Venice becomes dependent on gifts, on donations, on charity. If we have people investing in the city in a commercial enterprise Venice becomes a place of investment. If Venice becomes a place of investment, the city will thrive and the population outflows will change direction. If you make Venice dependent, a city looking for charity, then its decline will continue. Remember, profit and commerce are what made Venice; it is a mercantile city.”

Then comes health and education, something that Atkin holds close to his heart from his own first-hand experience from his days as a student when he was involved in a music therapy project and saw the benefits it could have on others.

“I want the San Cassiano to be directly involved in helping children with mental and physical health and social issues, so we will pay out of our budget for a number of music therapy specialists to go into schools and engage with the children. I am convinced that music has the means to make lives more tolerable, to bring relief and joy.”

He also has an interest in developing an education project about San Cassiano.

“Two weeks ago we made a video with a school, the Liceo Marco Polo, which is due to come out shortly,” Atkin revealed. “We held a seminar with the children in which we asked them to consider what they expect and will gain from what will be their theatre. This is something I am very serious about; eventually, I want to get to a point where we go into schools and re-enact scenes from an opera guided by five or six singers from the San Cassiano.

“When we get that to a certain level we will bring it into the theatre and will invite the families to come for free and watch their children on the stage and in the pit performing baroque opera. Those children who are not musically inclined will be involved front of house and backstage. It has to be a public theatre for Venetians, an open theatre that they feel belongs to them.”

Next up on his priority list is sustainability and a desire to move away from the “‘hit and run’ tourism” that he feels is “killing Venice.” Instead, Atkin wants to create tourism where people remain in Venice for a number of days and nights.

“We want to work in partnership with other tourist attractions to encourage longer-term stays,” he noted. “We have had conversations with the Goldoni theatre, for example, to sell tickets jointly for two nights, one night at the San Cassiano and one at the Goldoni. This idea is something we can extend to galleries and churches and museums.”

But ultimately, sustainability is about the people of Venice.

“Above all, we must put the Venetians first. We have already employed over 25 Venetian companies and we will employ 160 Venetians in our theatre when it is open. So this in itself creates a small cottage industry,” Atkin added. “If you have employment in Venice, this will help stop the population decline.”

Finally, he noted that the environment is also a major consideration when it comes to sustainability and the theater will be built in a carbon-negative manner.

Accessibility & Research

Above all, Atkin wants to make the San Cassiano accessible to all, not just to tourists or those who can afford the price of a ticket. To achieve this he plans to make use of evolving technology, including streaming, which he believes everyone is approaching from the wrong angle.

“There isn’t enough consideration being given to the experience itself,” he emphasized. “Although the technology is not yet there, we plan for people to be able to choose a seat in the theatre from where they wish to watch the performance. Each position will, therefore, give the viewer a different angle from which to watch the stage. You will even be allowed to change your seat during the interval to get a different perspective.”

He also noted that streams miss out on the audience experience, which he will look to recreate.

“So, we want to create it so that if you turn to your right or left you will be able to see a person sitting next to you. At the moment we are moving very slowly, like walking with a red flag in front of a car, but we have the potential to go to the moon.”

Atkin is also keen to make the San Cassiano a world-renowned center for research, positioning it as a direct link between performance and research, with the results of the research ultimately staged.

“One of my great frustrations is the gap between musicology and music performance. When I was a student I worked on the score of ‘L’ingresso alla gioventù di Claudio Nerone’ and made an edition of it, and I remember asking Tim Carter for advice and he said ‘don’t start, you will never finish,'” Atkin narrated. “Twenty years later I managed to get it staged. That is too long! There are over 300 manuscripts in Venice’s Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, so we need to have researchers in there finding the best operas, preparing editions where necessary, getting them onto the stage, and recording them.

“We can be so much more than just a theatre. We need to bring theses operas, these poets, and composers back to life.”

He also noted that he already has several young students working on research and will announce PhD courses once funding is received.

“We also plan is to provide Masterclasses, and to work in conjunction with the Conservatory in providing a Masters degree, using our theatre. We will be uniquely positioned in being able to allow students into a theatre for which these works were written. We can give them the time and facilities, to examine the works in their original context, and enable them to  bring them to the stage,” he elaborated. “I am not talking just about singers. I  mean directors, managers, and everyone working behind the scenes. They will be learning the trade but in a unique setting. We will be helping to create people who will be able to stage opera in the future. And we will be using the theater infrastructure to do that. Of course, if run properly, such courses can also be profitable, both for the Conservatory and for us. So this will also be a commercial activity, but one which will be for the greater good of the community.”

The idea of reviving lost or neglected works on a regular basis is certainly a mouthwatering one, but what exactly does Atkin expect to find?

“When I say lost I mean pieces we feel we can recover, pieces that have fallen out of vogue. There is going to be stuff out there we can rediscover. I had never heard of Giannettini when I started my PhD, and this turned out to be real gem. When we performed extracts from ‘L’ingresso…’ in Venice the Venetian public stood to applaud the final duet and demanded it to be played again. It is our duty to bring such works to life! Also, I have a dream that one day, somewhere in Italy I will come across Monteverdi’s ‘Arianna’ in a private collection. Who knows? It may well be out there somewhere.”

This does make one wonder, how far will Atkin go in his efforts to return such works to the stage? Often operas are discovered, but with pages, maybe a scene or even an act missing. Is he prepared to have the missing parts rewritten, and would that go against his ideas on authenticity?

“The first opera to be performed at the San Cassiano was ‘L’Andromeda.’ We have Ferrari’s libretto, but we don’t have Manelli’s musical manuscript. Should we treat it as a sacred piece of work, and dare not to touch it? I think if we handle it carefully, with the right people at the right time it would be fun to try to revisit it. Why shouldn’t we? If we don’t then such works will never see the light of day. We should also remember that in the 17 th century it was the poet who was considered the author of the opera, not the composer. If we do not recompose the music we will never hear their words, never see the drama set to music. What is there to lose?”

This answer tells us a lot about Atkin’s vision for the San Cassiano. He is not envisaging it to be a sort of museum, a shrine where baroque enthusiasts can come to pay homage to the composers of the 17 th and 18 th centuries, and to watch a pure representation of their operas in a refined and elevated atmosphere.

In fact, this could not be further from the truth as detailed by his closing remark: “This will be a living legacy, not just a historical oddity.”

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The Philosophy of Race

Albert Atkin,  The Philosophy of Race , Acumen, 2012, 192pp., $24.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781844655151.

Reviewed by Tina Fernandes Botts, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Albert Atkin sets out to analyze our ordinary concept of race through the lens of "mainstream" philosophy, a task he implies has as yet not been attempted. His goal is to discover what a philosophical account of race might add to the study of race that other disciplines (such as sociology, psychology, history, ethnic studies, and presumably non-"mainstream" philosophy as well) have as yet not brought to the table. For Atkin, that addition turns out primarily to be a higher level of precision and clarity. His suggestion is that if that precision and clarity can be brought to the study of race, then policy questions involving racial dimensions will be more easily resolved. To test this, Atkin spends the first four chapters cataloguing and categorizing the main themes, ideas, and concepts that already exist in non-"mainstream" philosophy and other disciplines on the topic of race. He then applies the taxonomy he develops to the policy question of whether racial profiling can ever be justified. It turns out that it can't, but this is no surprise.

Atkin succeeds in creating a taxonomy of contemporary race theory, and in translating existing ideas in contemporary race theory into a language and format that "mainstream" philosophers can understand. His book would work well as a primer for "mainstream" philosophers on the key ideas in the study of race and on the conceptual differences among these ideas. Where Atkin fails, unfortunately, is in adding anything substantively new to the existing work on race and racism. Still, his very attempt to produce a work of "mainstream" philosophy exclusively dedicated to studying the concept of race (and its relationship to racism) is a step forward from the perspective of the critical philosophy of race. Also to his credit, Atkin asks why the concept of race has not been given greater ("mainstream") philosophical attention, given the philosophical richness of the concept. He then admirably brings to "mainstream" philosophy's attention the suggestion that the answer to this question may lie in the philosopher's habit of abstracting out detail.  Atkin writes "within a general practice of abstracting away certain kinds of detail, race has frequently found itself sidelined" (5). Noting that philosophy's rather habitual sidelining of the concept of race is falling under increasing scrutiny, Atkin says philosophers should engage with the concept of race not only because the concept is philosophically rich but also because "it might do philosophy well, as a discipline, to reflect upon its "whiteness" (5), that is, to "diminish the whiteness of [its] philosophical gaze" (6).

For Atkin, it is of preliminary importance in a ("mainstream") philosophical account of the concept of race to determine whether race is real. To answer this question, he first describes our ordinary, every-day, "pre-theoretical" concept of race, then attempts to make that concept more philosophically robust. After that, he assesses whether the more philosophically robust concept of race has any support from science, particularly biology. He discovers that there is little support for the ordinary concept of race within science, even when it is made more philosophically robust, and concludes on this basis that in an important sense, race is not real. Atkin argues that a foundational aspect of our ordinary concept of race is that we assume race is real and that the reality of race is underpinned by biological and genetic facts. We talk, think, and behave as if there are things in the world called races that have a basis in science. The problem with this assumption on our part, however, is that the kinds of things the word 'race' picks out in the world is altogether unclear. That we behave as if there are races is only a fact about our behavior, not about race itself, in other words. To get a better handle on the kinds of things the word 'race' picks out in the world (rather than on what we assume about those kinds of things), it is helpful to first identify a list of key themes underlying our ordinary concept of race and then to subject these themes to philosophical scrutiny.

The six key themes of our ordinary concept of race are (1) that the central markers of race are bodily ("somatic") traits, (2) that race is inherited, (3) that racial differences are tied to geographical origins, (4) that race marks off certain physical or mental capacities, (5) that different races have different "cultural and attitudinal behaviors," and (6) that races involve the notion of purity. According to Atkin, it turns out that the most credible of the key themes in our ordinary concept of race are somatic traits, inheritance, and the idea that racial differences are tied to geographical origins. If we subject these three most credible themes to an additional level of philosophical scrutiny by inquiring into whether science supports the usage of any of these themes to identify racial categories, however, it turns out that none of the themes survives philosophical scrutiny. On this basis, Atkin ends chapter 1 by concluding that if we define race in terms of our ordinary, common usage, race is not real.

In any event, having concluded that our ordinary concept of race is not real, Atkin then sets out in to determine whether race has a social reality, and if so what the content of that social reality might look like. An important feature of the social reality of race, for Atkin, is that "there are differences in how race is identified, thought of and talked about in different societies and social settings" (52). To support this conclusion, he compares the socio-historical practices, behaviors, conventions, and institutions that gave rise to the concept of race at work in the United States with the same socio-historical practices that gave rise to the concept of race at work in Brazil. In the United States, Atkin links the rise of concept of race to the "massive importation of (African) slave labor into the Americas" (52), even before the nation's founding. "Imported along with these slaves," writes Atkin, "was the attitude that the division of people into races was both natural and scientifically endorsable" as well as the view that "races could be seen hierarchically with the white race considered superior to the black race" (52). Then, once present in the United States, racial concepts changed over time in response to changing social conditions. Atkins points out that "as the categories [of race] became harder to police in antebellum USA, new categories were introduced, removed, reclassified and legislated for" (53). Thus, for example, as the population of Hispanic Americans grew in the 1970s and as multiracial identity became more popular, the new racial categories of Latino/Hispanic and bi-racial or multi-racial were added to the United States census.

The development of the concept of race in Brazil has been different than in the United States, according to Atkin, primarily owing to a crucial difference in the relative numbers of blacks and whites, to the existing infrastructures, and to the needs and interests of the ruling white elite in both countries. While in the United States (where 80% of the population was white), there were plenty of white candidates available for "intermediate social groupings" between the ruling and slave classes (such as military personnel, forepersons of guards for slave plantations, farmers, or any of the jobs and tasks forbidden to slaves), in Brazil this was not the case. Instead, according to Atkin, when Brazil gained independence from Portugal in 1822 it is estimated that as many as three million of its population of four million were of African (or mixed African) descent. What sprang up in Brazil as a result was "an elaborate color based system of racial classification" that has included as many as twenty-eight different racial categories. The intermediate social groups took on the various roles that whites were too few to fill and blacks were too socially restricted to be permitted to fill. In other words, since such a large majority of the Brazilian population was of African descent, both the "one drop rule" (also known as the rule of "hypodescent," according to which someone is considered "black" in virtue of having even one distant African ancestor) so prevalent in the United States and the white privilege the "one drop rule" was designed to preserve were socially useless phenomena in Brazil; and hence did not exist there.

For Atkin, this stark contrast between the concepts of race in the United States and in Brazil demonstrates that there is a significant socio-historical aspect to our concept of race and the way we think and talk about it. Taking himself to have established this socio-historical aspect of race, Atkin then suggests that there are at least three different "attitudes" one can adopt with regard to this reality: (1) strong social constructionism, (2) weak social constructionism, and (3) reconstructionism. All three acknowledge the significance of socio-historical practices to the concept of race. Proponents of both forms of social constructionism are concerned primarily with whether the socio-historical practices that give rise to race make race real or objective (proponents of strong social constructionists say yes while proponents of weak social constructionism say no). Proponents of reconstructionism, however, are more concerned with the way we can use the concept of race in the service of certain social processes or ends.

That race has no biological reality, but nevertheless does indeed have a social reality, has been well-established in philosophy for many years now. Whatever method Atkin uses to arrive at this conclusion, then, his philosophical work seems unnecessary. It is also unclear why Atkin's methods of analysis qualify, in his view, as more "mainstream" than the methods of rational deduction and inference that other, non-"mainstream" philosophers before Atkin have used to arrive at the same conclusion.

In any event, given that our ordinary concept of race turns out not to point to anything real, but that there is nevertheless a socio-historical reality to it, Atkin next asks what we should do with the concept of race. He identifies three general ways of approaching this normative question: eliminativism, preservationism, and reconstructionism. Eliminativists argue that we should abandon our race thought and talk since science shows that race cannot be a biological kind, since the weak social constructivist position on the social reality of race makes the most sense (i.e., the socio-historical aspects of race are not enough to be reality conferring), and since the race labels and practices currently in practice are divisive, negative, and socially destructive. Although many preservationists agree with eliminativists that race cannot be a biological kind, they argue, by contrast, that we should nevertheless retain the concept of race since the strong social constructivist position on the social reality of race makes the most sense (i.e., the socio-historical aspects of race are enough to be reality conferring), and since the concept of race does have social utility. Race, for many preservationists, while not a biological kind is certainly a social kind. Atkin presents the reconstructionist position as relatively new (emerging in the last ten years or so) and as an attempt to move away from the more classical eliminativist/preservationist debate. For the reconstructionist, according to Atkin, what we should do with the concept of race is reconstruct it.

For example, some reconstructionists suggest reconstructing race to mean something more like ethnicity. Others suggest a focus on the process of racialization (the assigning of races to people) instead of on race. "Instead of describing someone as 'black,' we would describe them [sic] as 'racialized as black in our society'" (103). Still other reconstructionists advocate what is known as an "ameliorative definitional project," according to which those concerned about the concept of race would first consider what work the concept of race should do before deciding how to define it. For example, one thing the concept might do is help to overcome injustice or redress inequalities. The final reconstructionist position considered by Atkin is what he calls a "substitutionist" account of race, according to which our ordinary concept of race would be replaced with a "fully socially constructed race" (108), which would add to strong social constructivism "altering the world to reflect the apparent meaningfulness of our race thought and talk" (108). Atkin explains: "the idea is that we can introduce a new way of thinking and talking about race that embraces the socio-historical elements as wholly and solely reality conferring" (108).

Atkin's implication is that the reconstructionist approach makes the most sense, but he does not come out and say this. Instead, he describes the eliminativist and preservationist positions as existing at opposite theoretical poles and the reconstructionist position as a more sensible compromise. But, if the reconstructionist position is examined more closely, it is revealed as nothing more than strong social constructionism used in service of social and political ends. In this way, Atkin's philosophical work again appears unnecessary.

Having, as he sees it, fully examined the concept of race at this point, Atkin sets out to provide a philosophical account of the concept of racism. He begins by defining racism as

the assumption of the existence of races with relations of superiority and inferiority existing between them, such that the presumed superior group is able to dominate and exercise power over the dominated group to the detriment and disadvantage of members of that group qua members of that group. (116)

He then spends the rest of the chapter adding additional levels of detail. Specifically, he identifies and distinguishes: overt (known and acknowledged) versus avert (hidden and denied) racism; direct versus indirect racism; individual versus institutional racism ("the mechanisms of social control through which we manage society are inherently oppressive and detrimental to the lives and prospects of people of particular races" (119); cultural racism ("racism without racists" (120) or "the idea that we frequently see racial prejudice treated as though it belongs to a past age, and current racial inequalities explained in terms of deep cultural differences" (120); internalized racism; and symbolic racism.

Atkins holds that there are also a number of philosophical accounts of racism. He describes three: (1) the "belief/ideology model" of racism (the idea that it is racist beliefs and racist ideology that form necessary and sufficient conditions for racism), (2) a "behavioral model of racism (the idea that behaviors and actions that have detrimental outcomes are to be the focus of the necessary and sufficient conditions for something to be racist), and (3) an "affective model of racism" (the idea that the presence of negative feeling or malevolent motivations gives us the basis of necessary and sufficient conditions for racism). But, Atkin concludes that none of the three philosophical accounts of racism sufficiently accounts for the empirical facts about racism provided by sociologists and psychologists, which include that racism often operates in two or more of these ways or sometimes all three at once. Atkin speculates, "we might question whether we are being too ambitious in wanting to give a unified [philosophical] account of racism at all" (140).

If racism is too complex, changing and multifaceted a phenomenon to be captured by a single, unifying account, perhaps there are less restrictive strategies for describing racism, continues Atkin. In response to this challenge, he suggests we should try to develop "hybrid accounts" of racism. One such is the "cognitive-behavioral" account. According to one form of this, "we should combine some cognitive element, such as a belief in races and racial hierarchy, with a behavioral element such as an act, an omission or an attempt based on one's racial belief" (141) to describe racism. According to another "hybrid" account, it might be better to "look deeper and see if there is something more basic that both unifies the various accounts we have mentioned and captures more of the phenomenon of racism than we have been previously been able to" (141). Atkin includes in this second group of hybrid accounts "racism as disregard" and "racism as disrespect." The defining aspect of these accounts, for Atkin, is that "we can treat something as being racist if, and only if, it is disrespectful towards or disregarding of people of a certain race qua members of that racial group" (142). Once again, Atkin's philosophical work seems unnecessary. That the defining aspect of racism is that it involves disregard and disrespect is hardly a surprise; and it is unclear why it was necessary for Atkin to list all of the various kinds and types of racism before he arrived at this conclusion.

The rubber hits the road in the final chapter, where Atkin attempts to bridge the gap between the philosophical accounts of race and racism he has developed, and questions of social policy. First, he aptly points to several areas where the relationship between conceptual clarity on the topics of race and racism might help solve social policy issues. In the area of hate speech, for example, Atkin asks, "What is it that makes these unacceptable terms wrong?" (i.e., racial epithets versus the term "black" or "African American") since "Both pejorative and non-pejorative terms refer, putatively at least, to the same things?" In the area of procreative liberty, he asks how medical professionals might deal with circumstances in which parents of color wish to conceive and give birth to a white child. "Exactly what should medical professionals do in these circumstances?" asks Atkin, since "the ethical and legal implications of being able to select the race of our offspring are deeply interesting, and made even more so when we introduce factors about the reality of race" (146). Or, what should medical professionals do if offered organ donations that come with what seem to be racist provisos? According to Atkin, if the cases are instances of racism, there seem to be good reasons for refusing the offer. On the other hand, there is a corresponding medical duty to save lives, Atkin states. Racism is "odious and immoral," but how does or should our moral stance on it interact with other moral and ethical considerations? He suggests that the element of race involved in certain policy questions may turn out to result in mere "inconveniences" to members of racial minority groups rather than causing them real harm, particularly when compared to the benefits to society that might result from a given racially infused social policy. In these cases, according to Atkin, considering race would seem justified.

To provide a specific instance of how philosophy might help answer these sorts of social policy questions, Atkin uses the example of racial profiling. The first step, according to Atkin, is to develop a "philosophically interesting" account of racial profiling, i.e., one that is conceptually clear. He begins with identifying the "obviously bad" features of our common understanding of racial profiling and then teases out what makes those features bad. What is obviously bad about racial profiling is that "the tool used to connect a particular (racial) characteristic with a particular profile often seems to be suspect or inappropriate in some way" (151). "Here the shopkeeper is using a kind of unofficial racial profiling based on some stereotype that black people are thieves and criminals," (151) Atkin writes. Another obviously bad feature of racial profiling is the possibility for abuse. A third feature of obviously bad racial profiling is "when it is disproportionate," says Atkin (151). If the majority of police attention is spent on stopping persons "of a particular race, R, which is profiled as driving unlicensed," says Atkin, just because the statistical analysis shows the connection between "being of race R" and committing the offense is very clear, then the people "of a particular race, R" who are stopped are being asked to bear a burden which looks unacceptable. So, if a kind of racial profiling could be developed that neither uses inaccurate or appropriate tools, nor is abused, nor is used disproportionately, then Atkin reasons, this would constitute an acceptable kind of racial profiling. He calls this new and improved racial profiling the "good" kind, or a kind of racial profiling "purged" from any obvious racism (155).

The next step in examining racial profiling philosophically, according to Atkin, is to take our new "good racial profiling" and determine if it would result in any "unacceptable harms" (155). The harms of racial profiling, he says, can come from two sources: "(1) the invocation of race and racial identity as the basic indicating characteristic in our profile, and (2) the burden of having special attention called to a particular group qua racial group as part of the application of our profiling practice" (156). Atkin states that the first type of harm is probably unacceptable, although there may be an argument that this kind of racial profiling is acceptable. He thinks the case is stronger that the second type of harm is acceptable. "Refusing to use racial profiling on these grounds," he writes, "would be at the cost of the social benefits to be had from reducing certain kinds of crime, and would do nothing to reduce the harms of racism either" (159). We grasp his point particularly if we bear in mind that we are talking about "good racial profiling."

Having provided the philosophical case for "good" racial profiling, Atkin then sets out to present the philosophical case against it. He identifies three harms that likely render even "good racial profiling" unacceptable. First, a well established result of racial profiling is "internalized racism," meaning that the practice inculcates negative feelings against oneself in racial minorities, resulting in self-limiting behaviors and the undermining of flourishing. Second, racial profiling "seems to draw an official and explicit connection between people of a particular race and particular social problems such as crime" (162), with the result -that certain (false) characteristics about race and the characteristics of particular races are endorsed "that arguably lead to racism" (162). Third, even good racial profiling, i.e., racial profiling that "accords with our strictures on abuse and proportion" is likely to exacerbate racism and certain racial inequalities by virtue of the fact that it takes place against the backdrop of a racist and race-conscious society" (163). Examples of the fact that we live in such a society are that research shows, says Atkin, that Americans (whether black or white) respond to black faces as though there is a threat, and that people misidentify objects as firearms more frequently when they are shown black faces beforehand.

Based on all of this, Atkin suggests that "the harms of racial profiling that arise from the nature of profiling itself may actually be more damaging than simple inconvenience when it comes to the inclusion of race" (167), and concludes that if the previous arguments are right, even good racial profiling cannot be justified. To make matters worse for racial profiling, he adds at the end of the final chapter, "racial profiling could quite easily create feedback loops which make it, in a sense, self-fulfilling" (168). If statistics show that members of a particular race are more likely to commit street crimes after dark, then innocent members of those races are likely to withdraw from behaviors that subject them to police attention, with the result that "those members of a profiled racial group who the police do come in contact with will perhaps become increasingly likely to have committed the crime the police are checking for" so that the connection between race and crime upon which the profiling relies will be strengthened. "All of this looks bad for racial profiling," Atkin concludes (169).

Atkin concludes that racial profiling is probably not a good thing, and the reader is left wondering whether this is as unsurprising a result to Atkin as it is to the reader. If so, the reader is left wondering if Atkin regrets having developed his taxonomy of race at all. His stated purpose for writing the book, after all, was to apply mainstream philosophical methods to the analysis of the concept of race to determine if these methods could add anything new to the resolution of racially-infused policy questions. Since we already knew that racial profiling was probably not a good thing and since Atkin's taxonomy merely confirms this fact, it would appear that philosophical methods cannot add anything new. If, on the other hand, Atkin is surprised by the conclusion that racial profiling is probably not a good thing, the reader is left wondering in what cave Atkin has been living for the past twenty years. Either way, the application of mainstream philosophical methods to the study of race seems to have done no work. Those who, for some time, have been studying the concept of race in non-mainstream philosophical venues will not be surprised by this result. As Atkins himself identifies at the start of the book, "mainstream" philosophy, with its tendency to high abstraction, in some important sense almost cannot grapple responsibly with a concept as messy and affected by lived experience and socio-historical context as the concept of race. Nevertheless, what Atkin's book does well is pull together in one place, order, categorize, and catalogue the key contemporary ideas in the philosophy of race, and for that reason, operates as a useful reference tool for contemporary race theorists.

‘BALFOUR V. BALFOUR : A CASE STUDY’       

‘BALFOUR V. BALFOUR : A CASE STUDY’        

Decided on : 25 th June 1919

Court of Appeal : Court of Appeal of England and wales ( Civil Division )

Citation : (1919) 2 KB 571

Judges : Lord Justice Warrington, Lord Justice Duke, Lord Justice Atkin

Learning Outcomes

Introduction

• In order for a contract to be valid, the intent to create a legal relationship is one of the most important elements of the Indian Contracts Act 1872. Section 10 of the Indian Contracts Act states that there must be an intent to create a legal relationship, so agreements of a domestic or social nature do not qualify as valid contracts.
• Balfour v. Balfour is the main case law based on this essential element of the contract. In this case it was acknowledged by the court that if an agreement is made in ordinary circumstances might be valid , but this same contract will become invalid if the intention to create a legal relationship is missing .

Facts of the Case

The appellant  in the above case  is Mr. Balfour who lived in Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ) with his wife .Once they decided to go for a vocation to England , in the year 1915 .Unfortunately during their stay at England Mrs. Balfour got sick with some serious illness which needed urgent medical attention .The doctor recommended her to stay in England for her treatment .Both the husband and wife came to an agreement that Mrs. Balfour will  stay back in England and Mr. Balfour will go back to Sri Lanka and pay his wife a sum of thirty pounds per month until he is back to England .

This agreement was made when their relationship was going well. As time passed both the husband and wife grew apart and bitterness germinated between them . This resulted in non–payment of the maintenance money agreed .Mr. Balfour then wrote a letter to his wife expressing their separation to be of a permanent .Eventually they got divorced legally . The problem which arouse now was whether the contract made before the divorce will be valid now .Mrs . Balfour had bought an action against Mr. Balfour for non–payment of the amount he was supposed to pay in court of law in the year 1918.

Procedural History of the Case

Judge Sargant who is an Additional Judge in the Royal Bench Division ruled that there is a valid contract between the two parties, namely the wife and husband and the husband is obliged to pay a living to his wife. The lower court ruled in favor of Ms Balfour (plaintiff) and ruled that the husband’s (defendant) promise to give money to his wife was enforceable. The wife’s consent to this agreement (for the transfer of one month per month) is a valid consideration for the formation of a valid contractual bond between the two parties.

In July, Ms Balfour received free will and in December even a maintenance order. According to the lower court, the contract was a binding contract, which Mr Balfour opposed.

Questions before the Court

• Is the agreement considered a valid contract between them?
• Does Mr. Balfour intend to enter into a legal relationship with the agreement?
• Does the verbal agreement between the couple have legal consequences or is it just an internal and social agreement?
• Can domestic and social agreements be enforced and fall within the scope of contract law?

Contention on the part of Mr. Balfour ( The Appellant )

The agreement made between Mr. Balfour and Mrs. Balfour is purely internal in nature and has no legal implementation. Furthermore, Mr Balfour never intended to enter into an agreement which by itself already exists.

Contention on the part of Mrs. Balfour ( The Respondent )

The husband is obliged to pay for her upkeep because, when the husband signs the domestic contract when the contract is made, he will pay him £30 for the upkeep he agrees to remain in England.

What was held in the case of Balfour v. Balfour (1919)

It has been accepted that the nature of the agreement  is purely domestic, Lord Judge Atkin believes that when a husband and wife enter into an agreement, they never intend to create a legal relationship. When concluding a contract, both parties must intend to establish a legal relationship, only then can it be enforced in court . Besides, the court will never take into account the internal agreements that the couple makes in their daily life . The agreement is completely outside the scope of the agreement.

Agreements made between partners for the provision of capital are generally not contracts as the parties generally do not intend to pursue them for legal purposes. Usually, couples take care of personal or household expenses. Although there may be judgment if this happens between different countries. The Court of Appeals unanimously found that neither agreement was enforceable.

So Balfour’s law clearly shows that a legal intention to enter into a contract is indispensable. The Balfour Act revolves primarily around the concept of legal intent as fundamental and, in many cases, the need to ratify contracts .

Brief Analysis of the Case

First, Judge Sargant of First Instance ruled that Ms. Balfour’s claim was valid and that Mr. Balfour was entitled to pay her the promised maintenance.Finally, Mr Balfour appealed to the High Court. In an appeals court, a jury of Warrington LJ, Duke LJ and Atkin LJ found the agreement unenforceable in court. Atkin LJ keeps an eye on him because of his true nature. While Warrington LJ and Duke LJ did so because they doubted Ms Balfour had considered it. The doctrine of the intention to establish a legal relationship is mainly referred to by Atkin LJ.

It is said that doctrine is about public order and internal agreement has nothing to do with it. Courts cannot deal with such trifles regarding personal and family agreements.While there may be certain circumstances under which a husband and wife may enter into a legally binding agreement, in this case there is no such circumstance. This doctrine attracted attention and gained notoriety. This intention is sometimes called the animus contrahendi. In one of the subsequent Jones v Padawaton cases, Salmon LJ said it was factual. Has no legal presumptions. The intention to enter into a legal relationship is one of the essential elements needed to make a contract.

According to common law, a contract cannot be executed unless the parties intend the contract to create a legal relationship. Whether the parties intend to enter into a legal relationship or not is precisely determined after examining the conditions that existed at the time the contract was made. Regardless of whether a promise is made or not, the parties must fully comply with it. The parties cannot coerce, and the judges who made the decision have concluded that the court cannot enter into marital matters and be fully aware of their own problems. Balfour’s law thus provides a new perspective on the validity of the agreement.

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Atkins and the never-ending battle over carbs

• Published 17 April 2013

Ten years after Robert Atkins's death in New York, his famous diet plan is still the source of unending controversy.

"Carbs make you fat."

If Dr Robert Atkins has instilled one message into the mind of the weight-conscious layman, it is this.

A decade after his death you'll still hear people attacking bread, pasta and potatoes as the root of all rotundity.

That's because the Atkins diet, first devised in 1972 but made famous by his second book, Dr Atkins' New Diet Revolution, in 2002, advocated a drastically reduced carbohydrate intake.

Instead, followers of his high-protein diet could eat unlimited meat, eggs, cheese, fish and shellfish.

Atkins said too many carbs raised sugar levels in the blood, which prompted the release of insulin, a hormone which increases the body's capacity for storing that sugar in the tissues as fat.

He advocated starving the body of carbs so it was forced to burn its fat stores to get energy - a process known as ketosis.

At the height of its popularity in 2003, about three million people in the UK , external had tried the diet. In the US, one in 11 was reportedly on it. Celebrity fans included Jennifer Aniston, Demi Moore and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Atkins's book was among the top 10 on The New York Times bestseller list for almost six years, selling in excess of 15m copies worldwide. There was a flurry of low-carb products such as low-carb beer , external and low-carb breads.

In the US, sales of wheat , external and potatoes , external were reportedly hit by the diet fad, while meat consumption rose.

But there were strident critics. Negative headlines included "High-protein diets 'damage kidneys'" , external , "Atkins can 'put you in a bad mood'" , external , "Obese patients warned off Atkins" , external and "Atkins could trigger diabetes" , external .

There were counter studies to the studies. Headlines like "Celebrity diet 'safe and effective'" , external and " Two studies indicate Atkins diet may help heart , external " epitomised the positive stories.

Atkins's advice was controversial because it went against orthodox nutritionists who were recommending low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets.

Even his death, in 2003, became a focus for controversy. Atkins died after a head injury sustained after slipping on a pavement but the state of his health was scrutinised for evidence of problems associated with the diet. The critics said a 2002 heart attack was proof of poor diet. Atkins denied this.

Now, 10 years on, low-carb diets continue to divide. The NHS advice for healthy eating , external in the UK is that starchy foods - such as potatoes, cereals, pasta, rice and bread - should make up around one third of the food people eat.

And the latest US dietary advice splits , external a plate into five food groups - fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins and dairy.

But this orthodoxy has come under attack from some nutritionists. John Briffa, a doctor specialising in nutrition and author of Escape the Diet Trap, is one of those who sets himself against the likes of the British Dietetic Association and British Nutrition Foundation.

He says there is an enormous amount of scientific research , external that supports low-carb diets - particularly studies which find them superior to low-fat, calorie-restricted diets for weight loss - and the internet shows "first hand accounts from countless individuals who have transformed their health for the better using low-carbohydrate eating".

"Increasingly, this is what people are interested in, not the out-dated and unscientific views of their doctor, dietician, industry-linked nutrition organisation or government."

Only last week, actress Gwyneth Paltrow provoked the wrath of the dietetic establishment while she was promoting her new low-carb, gluten-free cookbook, by saying she avoids feeding her children bread, rice and pasta.

Critics said her children were "at risk of nutrient deficiencies" , external and "wouldn't be able to think straight". But the defenders argued , external there are no nutrients in starchy carbohydrate foods that people can't get elsewhere, and often in a superior form.

Many nutritionists would agree Atkins works in the short-term.

"People tend to have a rapid response when it comes to weightloss, but Atkins is also known to have one of the greatest rebounds, so people pile the pounds on when they come off it," says nutritionist and dietician Nicole Berberian.

However many feel uneasy about a diet that, in the first stage at least, almost completely cuts out a food group (intake is limited to less than 20g a day). Others argue the stance simply isn't practical in the long run.

Another persistent criticism is that low-carb diets increase the risk of heart disease, although defenders argue the science doesn't support this.

Of course the Atkins diet isn't the only diet to have received mixed reviews. Ultimately, if there was a diet that really worked for everyone, the dieting industry wouldn't exist, let alone be a multibillion dollar one.

Atkins fans: Catherine Zeta Jones, Jennifer Aniston, Demi Moore

"Like all diets, when it comes to Atkins, there is some truth in the rumour - there is some underlying scientific evidence - but proof cutting out carbs is the best way to lose weight just isn't there," says Sian Porter, a consultant dietician for the British Dietetic Association.

She says many people are looking for a magic bullet, but there is no one size fits all solution.

"Diets are fads, but it's about making permanent changes. Plus what you eat is only half the equation, the other half is physical activity," she says.

There's been a slew of "name" diets, but the Atkins plan continues to be emblematic of the genre.

The fact the man behind the diet was a doctor and had been very overweight gave him the "personal touch and the scientific 'validation'" in the eyes of many, according to Louise Foxcroft, author of Calories and Corsets.

Porter says Dr Atkins also had the benefit of good timing. "His second book coincided with the internet, and the 24/7 agenda where everything is widely available," she says.

However Paul Gately, professor of exercise and obesity at Leeds Metropolitan University, says the Atkins diet and other low-carb diets have also led to misunderstandings among the general public.

"One has to differentiate between simple and complex carbohydrates. Also, people tend to use carbs when they mean white rice, pasta and bread, but fruit and vegetables are healthy, and they are absolutely carbs, so sometimes the terminology isn't appropriate in context," he says.

Diet is never going to be like any other area of science. Whatever we've read, whatever the competing theories, whatever the weight of opinion, every individual is effectively conducting their own solo pseudo-scientific experiment in eating.

People will endorse whatever keeps them thin. And people will get their dietary tips from other ordinary people as much as they ever do from doctors and nutritionists.

You can follow the Magazine on Twitter , external and on Facebook , external

Program: Solomon Islands cacao used to make 'ethical easter eggs' in Australia

Program: Pacific Beat

Presented by

Brian Atkin from South Pacific Cacao buys beans from Solomon Islands and butter from Papua New Guinea to create sustainable Easter treats.

"Our ethical easter egg is a 75 per cent dark chocolate shell... [and] we've got a filling made from the amazing ngali nuts," Mr Atkin told Pacific Beat.

A Solomon Islander himself, Mr Atkin runs his chocolate company in Australia.

He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, Solomon Islands closed its borders and the supply of cacao beans dried up.

"We should be on our third shipment for the year but we haven't been able to get anything up to this point" he said.

Mr Atkin said 'around 35 people' in his father's village of Tawatana in West Makira have caught the coronavirus disease.

"It is a real problem for them," he said.

While his chocolate business has struggled with supply chain issues and lockdowns, Mr Atkin believes more companies should turn to the Pacific for their ingredients.

"The Pacific is producing such world class products," he said.

• Jordan Fennell, Presenter

Image Details

South Pacific Cacao 'ethical easter egg' ( Supplied: South Pacific Cacao/ Instagram )