The three founding fields of sustainability, social equity, economic development and environmentalprotection, strive for opposing goals. The differences of these disciplines are often likely tolead to compromised solutions between their actors, than to any type of holistic sustainable outcome.This reality transcends to the debate of sustainability in tourism. Responses to mass tourism gave wayto forms of tourism such as alternative and sustainable tourism. The latter type of tourism was criticizedfor asking for an unachievable balance between three opposing disciplines.The question at stake asks if creative tourism could be used by actors in local tourism schemesin order to resolve the conflicts between the three goals of sustainability. Given the nature of creativetourism, the latter concept could resolve the conflicts of sustainable development because it wouldhelp to establish beneficial links between the different goals and resources of the actors involved insustainability and in tourism. Creative tourism enables such complementation because it promotes thetourists’ active participation in their destinations’ development schemes and it enables communities tovalorize their local space in creative and complementing ways that preserve their cultural and naturalintegrity. Actors in sustainability and tourism thus avoid the need for compromised outcomes and aremore likely to head towards sustainable development. It is also claimed that a framework combiningthe two sets of theory can be built as theory unfolds.Through qualitative research on the case study of Sólheimar eco-village in Iceland, it is revealedthat creative tourism rather contributes to strengthen existing complementation between goals in sustainability.The overall results establish that creative tourism can be used as a tool to find a way tocreate stronger and more meaningful links between goals in sustainable development. A final frameworkcoupling the two sets of theory is presented.The findings shed light on a few points. Firstly, the focus of actors involved in sustainable developmentshould be on complementing each others’ goals rather than compromising. Sustainability isfound in the interactions between its actors. Conceptualizing sustainability as a form of interactionmakes the concept more accessible to local actors. Moreover, tourists have a responsibility in theprocess of local development when they become participants. It will be the community’s decision howit wants to promote its essence, to what extent it wants to open up to tourists and what role it is willingto let these play in its local development. Further research needs to consider the challenges in sustainabilityand tourism left unelaborated in this work.

Many actors are taking advantage of the flexible barriers to entry of the tourist industry to engage in the production of varied forms of tourism closely related to their lifestyle, professional and communal ambitions. With the increased popularity of forms of tourism bringing the guest close to the host, it becomes relevant to ask questions related to lived experiences and close encounters in tourism scholarship. This is a moral conviction that the plurality of human experiences and critical reflexivity matter in the conception of tourist spaces and their management. In this thesis, I look for new ways to conceptually embed local people in their living spaces by approaching forms of tourism displaying non-economic elements as phenomena that create new and complex relations imbued with various implications. Tourism geography highlights the negotiated and fragmented nature of tourism, and its performative and embodied character. I apply relational geography to apprehend the multiple relations that make up local spaces and identities. With its post-structural character, relational geography uncovers voices once neglected in research, and proposes new ways of being in the world. My two qualitative case studies reflect my interest in exploring the northern European context. Firstly, I investigate craft-artists on Bornholm, Denmark and their relation to the tourist season. I do this through interviews and narrative analysis. My second case study, a focused ethnography at Sólheimar eco-village, Iceland, centres on the management of host and guest interactions.  In terms of spatial formation, results show that local actors have the agency to form networks and redefine their identities in the wake of tourism development. They form a hybrid space by fulfilling goals related to their lifestyle, livelihood and professional ambitions simultaneously. Moreover, mundane practices are presented as an integral part of a tourist landscape. In terms of management, results show that the various spatial complexities faced by communities exacerbate host and guest relations. This will require a commitment from local coordinators and managers to promote a reflexive and critical exchange during these close encounters. I ultimately argue for the imagination of tourist spaces as living spaces, where I conceptualize tourism as a mundane, yet complex, material and social experience for those living in tourist spaces. I propose two new discursive anchors that reflect the metaphor of the living space: dwelling in the tourist landscape, and sincere encounters. I contend that researching living spaces finds its moral grounds in its openness to the various ways local people dwell and encounter during tourism, and to the diverse ways researchers make sense of these practices, and of their own.