This conceptual article argues for a broader view of the role of events in social systems. When analyzed as social phenomena, events can be seen as social actors that have the potential to both sustain and transform social systems. The maintenance of social systems is often reliant on iterative events, regularly occurring celebrations that tend to confirm social structures. In contrast, pulsar events have the potential to transform social structures. In this sense events can be seen as actors that have important influences on social systems, particularly in linking localized small world networks with the global space of flows. These ideas are explored through the case of Barcelona, which illustrates the interplay between these different types of events in their total portfolio, and how the extension of ritual in the sense of Collins can also contribute to the generation of new relationships and practices in the contemporary network society. Barcelona is examined as an eventful city in which the alternation of continuity through iterative events and change through pulsar events contributes to increasing the network effects of events.
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Recent fuseerden het Delftse sportevenementenbureau Shivers en het Haagse sportmarketingbureau SportVibes. Ze gaan verder onder de vlag van SportVibes United met als vestigingsplaatsen Den Haag en Delft. BVVS’er Imre van Leeuwen gaat samen met twee anderen de nieuwe organisatie aansturen. Hij wordt directeur Events. In het verleden was Shivers vooral een bureau voor sportevents. Het bureau is in 2006 ontstaan uit het internationale bureau Octagon CIS van Bob Verbeeck. Dat bedrijf veranderde in 2007 in Golazo Sports, Media, Entertainment, met nog steeds Verbeeck als eigenaar en directeur. Jan de Leeuw had een gesprek met Imre van Leeuwen.
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All over the world, sport events are seen as significant tools for creating positive social impact. This is understandable, as sport events have the power to attract enthusiastic participants, volunteers and to reach large audiences of visitors and followers via (social) media. Outbursts of excitement, pleasure and feelings of camaraderie are experienced among millions of people in the case of mega events. Still, a fairly large section of the population does not care that much for sports. Some may experience road blocks, litter and noise disturbance from the events. Sport events generally require investments, often from local or national authorities. Concerned citizens rightfully point at alternative usage of public money (e.g. schools, health care). Thrills and excitement are good things, but does that warrant public money being spent on? Or is there a broader social significance of sport events? Can sport events help alleviate societal issues (like cohesion, inequality and non-participation), do they generate a social impact beyond what spectators experience during the event? In this report the authors have aimed to describe the state of play as regards the evidence for the occurrence of a social impact from sport events and the strategies that are required to enhance social impact from sport events. For the report, an extensive scan of the literature was performed and input was collected from a key group of international experts.
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This chapter argues that critical discourse analysis (CDA) provides a fruitful methodology for CES. This is due both to its eclectic, abductive research methodology that engages in a dialogue between, theory(ies), methodology(ies), data and the socio-historical context (Reisigl and Wodak 2009). Secondly, CDA, like other critical approaches, adopts a layered approach to research methodology, focusing from the global to meso and micro aspects of an event, or from social structures, to social institutions and social events, always considering the discursive as being both constituted by and constitutive of social structures. It will illustrate this through a brief description of the discourse-historical dimension in CDA which assumes a distinction between content analysis, the analysis of discursive and argumentative strategies and, finally, the analysis of linguistic features (Reisigl and Wodak, 2001). Those basic assumptions will be illustrated through the description of a theoretical-methodological framework recently employed for the study of the Occupy movement in Spain (Montesano Montessori & Morales Lopez, forthcoming). It shows how a framework was assembled that brought social constructivism, narrative analysis, rhetoric and finally the discourse theoretical concept of ‘rearticulation’ together in order to analyse how the Occupy movement helped Spanish citizens to gain agency and voice. In: R Lamond I., Platt L. (eds). Critical Event Studies. Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, London
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This guide has been designed to measure and manage the impact of social events in urban areas. Our aim is to facilitate (event) organizers who would like to give a in depth justification for their work on enhancing social and sustainable (local) communities. These events tend to be small-scale cultural events within urban neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods can differ enormously in terms of their social, cultural, geographical, demographical and economical perspectives and this has to be taken into account when carrying out an impact study. There are many ways to measure impact. We have compiled this guide and toolkit from existing models, methods and additional insights based upon our own research experiences. We wanted to make a measurement instrument that is tailor-made for the specific context of social events and urban communities. For that reason, we will now give some background information about urban challenges, the role of social-cultural events in confronting these urban challenges and about event management and its possible social benefits and costs.
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This chapter investigates the deeply mediatized experience of place and space within the lived practice of events by studying two annual Dutch cultural events as cases: Oerol Festival (2017) and 3FM Serious Request (2017). Drawing on substantial datasets containing online and offline participant observations, both short in situ interviews and longer in-depth interviews with a total of 248 interviewees and large datasets from Twitter and Instagram, this chapter demonstrates that media concurrently de-spatialize, in the sense that they diminish spatial borders and overcome distance, and affirm embodied experiences of being-in-place. I argue that it is liveness - the potential connection, through media, to events that matter to us as they unfold - that creates the closeness between the near and the far elements within the “eventsphere” and binds it all together into one event-space.
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This introduction to the special issue on events as platforms, networks, and communities reviews recent research on these subjects. It outlines the previous work of the ATLAS Events Group in developing a “network approach to events,” as well as conceptualizing the differences between event networks and platforms.
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Events are per definition limited in time and space. However, the social interaction taking place during events can continue virtually. This can result in hybrid communities, existing of an offline and an online dimension. This paper explores the construction of hybrid event communities based on the following research questions: (1) What type of online practices can be identified before, during and after the event? (2) How do online and offline event practices and rituals influence each other? (3) How do combinations of online and offline practices contribute to the creation and maintenance of hybrid event communities? The practices of three events were studied using qualitative methods. Fifty-six interviews were conducted, and participant observation took place during 11 editions of the events. This was complemented with an online study. The findings identify different types of online practices around events such as connecting practices, recruiting practices and creative practices. Moreover, the combinations of practices lead to different types of event communities. The paper develops a framework of online/offline interaction processes that result in different types of event communities, contributing to our knowledge about the role that events can play in the contemporary network society.
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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine developments in the use of events by places from a predominantly place branding role based on image and economic impacts towards a broader placemaking approach aimed at holistic improvements in place quality. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on a single case study approach, with the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) as the focus. Data sources include resident surveys, depth interviews and analysis of policy documents. Findings: The Den Bosch case illustrates the emergence of a more holistic approach to the use of events as a placemaking tool. The city shifted from an ad hoc events policy to the development of a multi-annual programme designed to produce economic, image, social cultural and network effects. This approach seems to have been successful in stimulating visitation, increasing visitor spend and raising the international profile of the city. At the same time, the city has developed many activities designed to mobilise local stakeholder groups and increase social cohesion, which provide essential support for the necessary investment. Research limitations/implications: There are indications that sustaining such a programme over the longer term is difficult in the face of political and economic change. Adoption of a holistic approach also requires the mobilisation of a wide range of stakeholders. Practical implications: Critical success factors for placemaking are identified. Social implications: The Den Bosch programme helped to increase social cohesion in the city by involving residents and local cultural groups in different projects. However, this required a differentiated approach based on the needs of each group. Originality/value: This study presents a placemaking model that can help to identify the different elements required in a successful placemaking programme. This is developed from a practice approach, which has the value of paying attention to how event programmes can be initiated and sustained by a group of actors.
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