Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
Abstract
The Bahá’í religion is the world’s youngest religion, founded in 1863 by the Persian sage Baha’u’llah. Its followers, including its founder, were persecuted for more than a century until they found peace in the 21st century when its two centres in Haifa,
Israel, became unesco World Heritage Sites in 2008. The research aims to put the principles of systems thinking into practice in the case of the conservation of the Bahá’í Gardens, a World Heritage Site. The data for the causal-loop model (cld) within the system dynamics framework, which we present in this paper, was obtained through a field survey of leaders of the Bahá’í religion. The theoretical model is followed by a practical demonstration of the functioning and management of the Bahá’í Gardens in harmony with the social environment, the natural surroundings, pilgrims, and tourists, which illustrates the interplay between theory and the practical application of systems thinking for the highest good of world heritage and tourism. The research goes further by presenting, through the literature, the possibility of integrating religion and science, which as independent systems, are linked by a systems approach. The essence of Bahá’í thought is compassion, equality of races, interdependence, harmony, and living aesthetics and symmetry. All these elements fit into the modern systems’ principles, where systems cannot work until all their interdependent elements are balanced. The feedback loop and one’s awareness of it bring balance to the system, which presents the systems approach as a valuable tool in modern science.
Keywords: Bahá’í Gardens, systems approach, cldmodelling, unesco, world heritage site, pilgrimage tourism
References
Abdu’l-Bahá. (n.d.). Foundations of World Unity:The True Modernism. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://reference.bahai.org/en/t/c/FWU/fwu-1.html
An Official Site of Baha'i Faith. (2022). The Universal House of justice. A Unique Institution | The Universal House of Justice - An official website of the Bahá'í Faith. Retrieved July 30, 2022, from https://universalhouseofjustice.bahai.org/unique-institution
Bahá’í Community. (2019, October 25). For bicentenary, Shrine of the Báb opens to thousands of visitors, community leaders [Web log post]. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://news.bahai.org/story/1365/
Bertalanffy, L. von. (1951). General system theory: A new approach to unity of science. John Hopkins Press.
Chardin, P. T. de. (1955). Phenomene Humaine. Editions du Seuil.
Coleman, S. (2017). Pilgrimage Policy Management:Between Shrine Strategy and Ritual Improvisation (M. Lappakari, Ed.). In K. Griffin (Ed.), Pilgrimage and Tourism to Holy Cities: Ideological and Management Perspectives (pp. 87-99). Wallingford, UK: CAB International
Collins Kreiner, N., Shmueli, D. F., & Gal, M. B. (2015). Understanding conflicts at religious-tourism sites: The Bahai World Center, Israel. Tourism Management Perspectives, 16, 228-236. doi: 10.1016/j.tmp.2015.04.001
Fisher, M. P. (2017). Living religions. Boston: Pearson.
Forrester, J. W. (2001). Urban Dynamics. Pegasus Communication.
Gatrell, J. D., & Collins-Kreiner, N. (2006). Negotiated space: Tourists, pilgrims, and the Bahá’í terraced gardens in Haifa. Geoforum, 37(5), 765-778. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2006.01.002
Hartz, P. (2009). Bahai Faith. New York: Chelsea House.
Hatcher, J. S. (2007). The ascent of society: The social imperative in personal salvation. Wilmette, Il: Bahái Publishing Trust.
Hegel , G. W. F. (2008). Wissenschaft der Logik: die Lehre vom Sein (385th ed., Ser. Philosophische Bibliothek). Meiner.
Jere Jakulin, T. (2019). The Ancient Wisdom and Motivation of Shams -i Tabrizi or analogy of Contemporary Systems Science and Shams-i Tabrizi Wisdom. In R. Dowson, J. Yaqub, & R. Raj (Eds.), Spiritual and Religious Tourism: Management and Motivations and Management (pp. 153-162). Wallingford, UK: CAB International.
Jere Jakulin, T., Rozman, C. K., Pažek, K. U., Kljajić Borštnar, M., Škraba, A. U., Kofjač, D. U., & Jakulin, V. U. (2020). Systems approach concepts in contemporary society systems thinking, modelling and simulation in science and practice. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač.
Kim, D. H., & Anderson, V. (2011). Systems archetype basics: From story to structure. Pegasus Communications.
Langness, D., & Poer, B. (2021, February 02). Unity of Science & Religion. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://bahaiteachings.org/bahai-principles-the-unity-of-science-and-religion/
Langness, D., & Muquit, M. Y. (2020, December 29). Oneness of Humanity. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://bahaiteachings.org/bahai-principles-oneness-of-humanity/
Peirce, C. S. (1998). The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings. Indiana University Press.
Sedmak, G., & Brezovec, A. (2017). Visitors’ preferences for museum interpretation: Identifying and targeting market segments. Academica Turistica, 10(2), 141–150. https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.10.141-150
Senge, P. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. New York. Currency-Doubleday
.
Waterfield, R., & Bostock, D. (1996). Aristotle Physics. Oxford University Press.
Worthington, F. (2011). Abraham: One God, three wives, five religions. Wilmette, IL: Bahai Pub.
Worldwide Baha'i Community. (2022). The shrine of the báb. The Baháʼí Faith - Home. Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://www.bahai.org/the-bab/shrine
Zabukovec Baruca, P., & Brezovec, A. (2014). The Responses of Responsible Tourists: Limitations and Gaps in Prosocial Consumer Research. Academica Turistica: Tourism & Innovation Journal, 7(1), 23–33.
https://news.bahai.org/media-information/statistics/
https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/reports/inbound-tourism-survey-2/he/7522_English%20brief.pdf
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
1. Copyright
Copyright for all articles published in Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal is held by individual authors. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete the Publication Agreement and Copyright Licence, based on the Open Access Model Publishing Agreement.
Articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License.
Under the terms of this license, authors retain ownership of the copyright of their articles. They can archive the pre-print and post-print or publisher's version of their work. They will, however, assign to Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal (AT–TIJ) the permanent right to electronically distribute their manuscript and, after it has appeared in AT–TIJ, they may republish their text as long as they clearly acknowledge AT–TIJ as the place of the original publication.
2. Author Fees
Article submission, processing and/or publishing fees are not charged.
