Svaneti has benefited enormously from the tourism boom since the 2010s, but at the same time, faced new problems and conflicts: unregulated mass tourism destroys the region’s ecological heritage and decreases the possibilities of the population to contribute to their self-sufficiency through agriculture. Moreover, Svaneti is searching for a new identity in a continuous field of friction between an emerging local economy and the region's rich tradition.
In the absence of a coherent strategy to deal with this development, “Envisioning Svaneti” is an invitation to the local population in Svaneti to discover the nexus of heritage, tourism, and the environment. “Envisioning Svaneti” will carefully explore the perspectives of the local population and generate ideas for developing Svaneti in harmony with local ecosystems, heritage, and the population.
"Envisioning Svaneti" organizes a workshop with Georgian and German academics from the fields of anthropology, human geography, tourism studies, landscape architecture, and media design to examine the challenges of the village of Latali and its community in Svaneti. In close cooperation with the local population, challenges and opportunities will be documented, and possible solutions for Svaneti’s sustainable developmentbased on the example of Latali will be provided. The collected material and ideas will be published and open the way for a new network and further discussions.
