Festivals and the City: The Contested Geographies of Urban Events
About this ebook
The key themes of this book are the quest for more inclusive urban spaces and the contested geographies of festival spaces and places. Festivals are often used by municipal authorities to break down symbolic barriers that restrict who uses public spaces and what those spaces are used for. However, the rise of commercial festivals and ticketed events means that they are also responsible for imposing physical and financial obstacles that reduce the accessibility of city parks, streets and squares.
Alongside addressing the contested effects of urban festivals on the character and inclusivity of public spaces, the book addresses more general themes including the role of festivals in culture-led regeneration. Several chapters analyse festivals and events as economic development tools, and the book also covers contested representations of festival cities and the ways related images and stories are used in place marketing.
A range of cases from Western Europe are used to explore these issues, including chapters on some of the world’s most significant and contested festival cities: Venice, Edinburgh, London and Barcelona. The book covers a wide range of festivals, including those dedicated to music and the arts, but also events celebrating particular histories, identities and pastimes. A series of fascinating cases are discussed - from the Venice Biennale and Dublin Festival of History, to Rotterdam’s music festivals and craft beer festivals in Manchester. The diverse and innovative qualities of the book are also evident in the range of urban spaces covered: obvious examples of public spaces – such as parks, streets, squares and piazzas – are addressed, but the book includes chapters on enclosed public spaces (e.g., libraries) and urban blue spaces (waterways) too. This reflects the interpretation of public spaces as socio-material entities: they are produced informally through their use (including for festivals and events), as well as through their formal design and management.
About the author
Andrew Smith is Professor of Urban Experiences in the School of Architecture and Cities at the University of Westminster. His research addresses a key question: how do events affect the places and spaces that host them? Andrew’s previous publications include two monographs on city events and two edited collections focused on the visitor economy. Alongside co-editing this book, he has co-authored a chapter that examines the festivalisation of London’s parks, a subject he has researched as part of the FESTSPACE project.
Guy Osborn is Professor of Law at the University of Westminster and a Creative Director of the Soho Poly. He co-edits the Open Access Entertainment and Sports Law Journal and the Routledge monograph series Studies in Law, Society and Popular Culture. He is currently completing a book entitled Olympic Laws for Routledge. His contribution to this collection is as co-editor, and more specifically his contribution with Andrew Smith and Goran Vodicka focusing on London parks as part of the FESTSPACE project.
Bernadette Quinn is a Senior Lecturer at Technological University Dublin. She has a strong research interest in arts festivals and cultural events, having written extensively about the roles they play in transforming space, reproducing place and shaping identities. Her contribution to this volume is as co-editor, and as co-author with Theresa Ryan of the publicness of local libraries chapter. The material for this chapter came from research undertaken as part of the FESTSPACE project.
