Generation Place
A new international community for the people shaping the future of places.
About Generation Place
For decades, the question tourism has asked has been: "How can this place serve tourism?"
Generation Place flips it around: What does this place need to thrive — and how can tourism support that?
We call this lens Place First. It means stopping the practice of managing destinations as products, and starting to steward them as living systems — with residents, nature, and culture as the true beneficiaries, not tourism's byproduct.
This isn't a fringe idea anymore. Quietly, and often imperfectly, it's already happening: in cities that have rewritten their KPIs, in destinations that have changed who governs them, in places that have redesigned funding, promotion, and purpose around the community first. Generation Place brings these people together — the ones already looking through the Place First lens — to compare notes, challenge each other, and accelerate the shift.
2027 Symposium
Hosted in partnership with Turismo Torino e Provincia at the UNESCO-listed Castello del Valentino, the symposium brings together leaders from tourism, place marketing, citymaking, economic development, culture and beyond to explore the ideas shaping the future of places.
Why Torino
Turin is our symbolic host city, and deliberately so. Few cities embody urban transformation as vividly — a place that reinvented its own identity from industrial capital to a city of culture, innovation, and quality of life. That makes it the ideal backdrop for a symposium about the transformation of tourism itself.
Who it's for
Generation Place is for people from tourism — but not only. We're building a room that also includes city marketing, placemaking, urban planning, and regenerative economics professionals: anyone who shapes what a place is, and who it's for. The name reflects that ambition — Place, not just tourism, and Generation, a signal that this is a forward-looking, next-generation community.
What makes it different
This is not a conference of one-way keynotes. Alongside plenary sessions and global case studies, Generation Place is built around participatory challenges where participants bring real Place First problems from their own city, region or organisation and work on them together. You leave with concrete ideas you can put into action at home.
We're calling this first edition just that — a first edition.
Our ambition is to grow Generation Place, over the next three to five years, into one of Italy's leading international symposia on the future of place and tourism.
Our Speakers
Anna Pollock
Founder at
Conscious.Travel
Independent strategist, change-maker, speaker, committed to help the travel, tourism and hospitality sector become a force for regeneration.
Cathy Ritter
Founder & CEO at
Better Destinations LLC
Bringing expert resources to destination management, especially relating to sustainable and regenerative tourism.
Additional speakers to be confirmed closer to the event.
Our Programme
Two full days in Torino designed to challenge how we think about places—and put that thinking into practice. Mornings will open up new perspectives through keynotes, plenaries and case studies, while afternoons shift into workshops, participatory challenges and collective problem-solving. Come ready to listen, contribute, challenge and leave with ideas you can put into action at home.
Day One: February 24, 2027 | 09:00 - 16:00
Place First: The Frame, the Consequences, the Practice
- Opening Keynote — Grow Up!: Anna Pollock sets the lens for two days of putting people and place first.
- Plenary — Place First: Introducing the Place First concept and what it means for tourism.
- Plenary — Strategy & Marketing: Exploring how Place First changes strategy, measurement, marketing and place branding.
- Case Studies — Place First in Practice: Five places, five lenses spanning governance, experiences, economic leakage, stakeholders and residents.
- Workshop — Place First & the Place: Applying the Place First lens to your own city, region, landscape or business.
- Workshop — Place First & Yourself: Exploring what Place First means for your own role, responsibilities and collaborations.
- Participatory Challenge — Pitch Your Place First Problem: Bring a real challenge from home and work on it collectively.
- Closing Session — Art in Place: A participatory session led by Conrad Van Tiggelen.
Day Two: February 25, 2027 | 09:00 - 04:00
Widening the Lens
- Opening Keynote — Widening the Lens: A perspective from outside tourism, reframing places as living systems.
- Case Study — Place First Opportunities: Exploring how tourism can become a catalyst for positive change.
- Case Studies — Place First in Practice: New lenses on KPIs, roles and structures, branding and placemaking.
- Closing Session — From Ideas to Reality: Bringing the thinking from two days together and turning it into concrete next steps.
Our programme is evolving. The final schedule and additional speakers are to be confirmed closer to the event.
Our Legacy
Beyond the Symposium
Generation Place is more than an audience. It's a growing community of practitioners applying the Place First lens in their work—and continuing to learn from and challenge each other long after the symposium ends.
From Ideas to Action
Generation Place turns ideas into action. Through participatory challenges, participants tackle real problems together—creating outcomes that travel home and into real places.
Connecting to The Academy
Our partnership with Turismo Torino began with the Academy. Generation Place builds on that foundation, connecting academic thinking with real-world practice and turning shared ideas into action for places.
Transforming Torino
As the partnership grows, Generation Place can extend beyond the symposium—supporting Torino's strategy, brand and implementation year-round, while turning participants into long-term ambassadors for the city.
Be Part of What's Next
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