Impacts assessment of creative and touristic activities on territorial development has been frequently centred on traditional quantitative methodologies and is based mostly on the economic dimension of it. The multidimensional contributes of these projects for territorial development, considering the global outcomes in terms of economic, social, environmental, cultural and institutional benefits are often underestimated, not only due to a weak ideological and conceptual openness, but also for the methodological difficulties that are associated with this evaluation. Drawing upon a literature survey that the team has developed on the different territorial impacts that the implementation of initiatives linked to creative tourism can have in the capacity building and local animation, particularly within the context of small and medium-sized cities or rural areas, this paper aims to develop and test a theoretical and assessment framework for creative tourism impacts on cultural and creative dynamics in small cities and rural areas. The theoretical framework will be confronted with qualitative information collected in the Idea-labs, an activity developed under the project CREATOUR - Tourism Destination Development in Small Cities and Rural Areas, in order to support organizations to develop their creative tourism offers in four Portuguese regions.

--