Cultural heritage entanglements: festivals as integrative sites for sustainable urban development

Abstract

Whilst the importance of cultural heritage in sustainable urban development has been increasingly recognised in policy frameworks at multiple levels, there remains a lack of understanding about how global and international goals land in different places. This paper specifically addresses this question through a study of 18 festivals across the Global North and South. We argue that festivals are integrative sites in which tangible and intangible heritage properties are entangled: bidirectional, co-dependent and non-linear. Given the critical role in linking urban contexts and histories with immaterial experience and meaning in the city, we argue that festivals can illuminate wider concerns. Specifically, this means seeing festivals as part of the 'new heritage paradigm' and assessing their contribution to processes of just urban transformations. ARTICLE HISTORY

Cultural festivals and the city

“…The main contribution of geographic thinking to event landscapes, especially utilizing urban geography discourses, has been providing an established framework for identifying and analysing patterns of development and policy, governance, urban regeneration and socio‐economic place‐based inclusions and exclusions (Hall, ; Harvey, ; Soja, ). Through this, there is the potential to appreciate wider value of festivals beyond economics but how they might contribute to sustainable urban development (Perry, Ager, & Sitas, ) This also involves mapping experiences by conducting immersive studies of events in streets, parks and other urban spaces, exploring the socio‐spatial relationships and tensions.…”

“…), but they also can be manufactured multiarts events more commonly seen now in urban centres (such as Manchester International Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and so on). A broad but concise definition offered by Perry et al (), drawing on earlier definitions of Getz () suggests that festivals are ‘spatially as well as temporally bounded composites of different realities; they are a symbolic, contingent and situated set of events and understandings, usually only comprehensible in context’. Indeed, urban cultural festivals are temporary but vary in length from a 1 day celebration (i.e., Hogmanay) to a year long programme of activities (i.e., UK City of Culture).…”

Cultural Heritage-Based Urban Festival as a Tool to Promote Local Identity and City Marketing

“…In order to strengthen the image and brand of the city, national and international cultural heritage initiatives (mainly inscriptions on representative national lists of intangible heritage, on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity or the European Capital of Culture project) have been often used to demonstrate cultural uniqueness of a particular city and its urban space and culture. Although cultural heritage has been recognized as an important factor in urban agendas, only limited space in scholarly literature has been devoted to its role in urban sustainable development strategies as described in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Perry et al 2019).…”

Traditional Architecture: The Role of Traditional Festival in Islamic Historic District to Achieve Local Community Wellbeing

“…Tourism activities relying on the festival and heritage would generate beneficiaries not only from the historical dimensions, but also in term of economic, socio-cultural, political, and environmental contexts (Ma & Lew, 2012). Festivals are analysed in the context of various dimensions from place-making strategies to geopolitical issues; festivals even touch upon the discussion from sustainable (Perry, Ager, Sitas, & Perry, 2019) and its contribution to wellbeing in general. Environmental sustainability, quality of life source: summarised from various references (Christakopoulou, S., Dawson, J., & Gari, 2001), (Sirgy, M. J., Widgery, R. N., Lee, D. J., & Yu, 2010), (Forjaz et al, 2011), (Morton, A., & Edwards, 2012), (Al-Haydari, 2011), (McCrea et al, 2014) The concept of wellbeing has been used interchangeably with quality of life, happiness, and life satisfaction (McCrea, Walton, & Leonard, 2014).…”

“…In line with this, little empirical research has been focusing on sociocultural impacts on society (Pavluković, Armenski, & Alcántara-Pilar, 2017; Rao, 2001). This phenomenon leads to an argument to explore the value of cultural festivals within a more holistic approach to sustainable development (Perry et al, 2019) and its impact on the community wellbeing on a long-term basis.…”