As acceleration toward the transition to a carbon-neutral energy production becomes an urgent imperative, universities are called to play a multifaceted role: to produce knowledge and cutting-edge research for the pursuit of energy transition; to transform infrastructures to promote circular economy practices and a more sustainable use of their building stock; and to promote energy citizenship through formal and informal education. The authors aim to move from these considerations to critically present some actions and programs in education, research, and campus operations in which the University of Bologna is engaged. The first part presents an overview of the role of universities in this transition, with a focus on the UI GreenMetric international standard for assessing the different dimensions of sustainability. In the core section, an empirical focus is provided on Bologna and its Cesena campus through three directions: the University’s multicampus sustainable strategy (campus operations), the relevant research–action projects on energy justice and the energy transition (research), and the EN-ACTION project to foster energy citizenship and behavioral change in students and citizens (education). This study concludes that the comprehensive approach of the University of Bologna in integrating sustainability into its operations, education, and research while fostering student engagement in energy citizenship, provides a replicable model for other institutions. It highlights the need for consistent and ongoing support to ensure the long-term impact and effectiveness of sustainability initiatives. The integration of social components and engagement with civil society is crucial for fostering a collective behavioral shift toward low-carbon systems, which can be further supported by interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research approaches.

Tourism is often considered the world’s biggest industry, as it contributes approximately 10% of the global GDP. Despite this economic impact, tourism also includes important critical issues like territorial inequalities, diminishment of local engagement, and has high environmental and cultural impacts. This study investigates the rise of “walking trail tourism”, a niche sector where the respect for local communities and the environmental sustainability are particularly important. The focus is on Italy and Argentina: two countries with very different political, tourism, and biophysical backgrounds, but with the common recent development of walking trails and forms of social innovation. This study explores three main questions: the trends in walking trail tourism, the role of these trails in fostering local social innovation, and the influence of national policies in this domain. The study combines historical-statistical analysis, political–legislative review, and interviews with experts in order to assess all these aspects. Findings reveal significant social innovation trends within walking trail tourism but also challenges in territorial coordination and the establishment of national governance. Italy and Argentina are both characterized by an opposite situation regarding walking trails: there are several local initiatives but a lack of national guidelines in the former, and some good national policies but few bottom-up initiatives in the latter.

Tourism intermediaries are expected to contribute to sustainable development, yet research often stops at policies, intentions or reported practices. This review examines how far studies trace intermediary influence from organisational leverage and action to adoption by another actor and to sustainable outcomes. The corpus includes 113 Scopus and Web of Science reports published between 1997 and July 2026. The review was not prospectively registered. Design‐specific appraisal produced 20 higher, 41 moderate and 52 lower confidence ratings. Evidence is concentrated on tour operators and travel agencies; platforms and destination‐level effects remain underexamined. Orchestration appeared in 59 reports (52.2%), while translation and selection each appeared in 48 (42.5%). Most reports (97/113; 85.8%) stopped at or before intermediary action, whereas only 16 (14.2%) followed the chain to another actor's response or a measured sustainability outcome. The framework clarifies where evidence weakens and what future research should observe directly.

This paper examines several trends in contemporary tourism: the broadening of the very notion of a “tourist destination”, alongside the growing importance of providing a diversified and territorially integrated supply; the opportunities that tourism may offer to some “marginal” areas; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which calls for a rethinking of more sustainable and responsible forms of travel, both for the environment and for the people encountered along the way. Tourism related to walking routes and trails appears to benefit from all of these trends, and indeed, this segment has shown clear growth in Italy. The paper then considers the potential and critical issues of this sector in Forlì-Cesena County, with a focus on the nine Apennine municipalities included in the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI). Through an analysis of local tourism promotion websites, a secondary analysis of statistical data, and 19 questionnaire–interviews with local stakeholders, this study examines an area where tourism is growing but remains largely concentrated on the coast. Although the potential of walking routes is confirmed by the various itineraries crossing this area, their actual use and impact on local development still appear limited.

Travel agencies and tour operators employ large numbers of women, yet the evidence remains fragmented on whether employment provides comparable rewards, working conditions, career opportunities, and organizational authority. This scoping review mapped indexed empirical research on gendered employment and organizational power in tourism intermediaries. Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection were searched through 20 July 2026. After deduplication, 390 unique records were independently screened by two reviewers, 30 reports underwent full-text assessment, and 17 reports representing 16 studies were included. Data were extracted using a structured matrix and synthesized through evidence-role classification, design-sensitive interpretation, methodological robustness appraisal, and sensitivity analysis. The evidence base was small and heterogeneous. Thirteen studies provided direct and separable evidence, whereas three were contextual. The clearest findings concerned unequal wage returns, work-design conditions associated with retention and safety, and selective routes into leadership or ownership. Evidence from three settings did not support a simple capability-deficit explanation, while strategic decision rights, collective voice, board processes, and platform governance were rarely examined directly. The review organizes these findings around reward allocation, work organization, and access allocation. Future research should broaden database coverage and use longitudinal, comparative, and decision-level designs to examine these allocation processes directly.