Constructive and destructive agency, regional path development and critical junctures

A new interesting article is published by Laura James, Henrik Halkier and Heidi Vorre of Aalborg University, Denmark, the coordinator of CROCUS project, member of the SECreTour Network.

Constructive and destructive agency, regional path development and critical junctures: the case of cruise tourism in Nuuk, Greenland

The paper explores the role of human agency in regional path development looking at various types or domains of agency.

Innovative entrepreneurship, institutional entrepreneurship and place leadership may contribute to the development of new paths or to the renewal of old paths, and such path development may be destructive as well as constructive.

A framework is proposed to interprete these processes.

Path development goals according to stakeholders’ aims and type of agency

This framework is used to analyse the interplay between different types of agency through a study of cruise tourism in Nuuk, Greenland. The empirical analysis carried out by the researchers shows how a wide variety of stakeholders, including residents and non-governmental organisations, may try to influence tourism development path in different ways.

James, L., Halkier, H., & Vorre, H. (2025). Constructive and destructive agency, regional path development and critical junctures: the case of cruise tourism in Nuuk, Greenland. Regional Studies, 59(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2025.2461755