Events in the Network Society: The Role of Pulsar and Iterative Events

Abstract

Festivals influence people's idea of a city. They provide many points of identification and contribute to the birth of non-mainstream urban identities. They consolidate subcultures and create togetherness among amateurs of a common field. At their best festivals culminate in a "festival moment," creating a momentum born of dramaturgical excellence and high quality content, a powerful experience bringing together audience and festival performers and organisers. (Silvanto & Hellman, 2005, p. 6) Given the rapid pace of social, economic, and cultural change, events continue to take on new

Eventful Cities as Global Innovation Catalysts: The Sónar Festival Network

“…Whereas major one-time events have the potential to generate momentum for a reordering of political positions, regular events seem more likely to support the establishment of interpersonal trust, which may lead to greater and more open knowledge circulation, thereby stimulating innovation more effectively. This mirrors the division suggested by Richards (2015) between "iterative" and "pulsar" events in cities. Regular iterative events help to feed the pool of creative talent and ideas at the level of cultural programming, whereas larger pulsar events provide the catalyst for transformation through the injection of new ideas and contacts with external selectors.…”

Issues, patterns and strategies in the development of event portfolios: configuring models, design and policy

“…They coined the term, ‗eventfulness', to describe the integration of events with other strategies and policies of a city, such as tourism, economic, social and cultural development, urban regeneration and brand promotion. An eventful city purposefully uses a program of events to strategically and sustainably support long-term policy agendas that enhance the quality of life for all (Richards, 2015).…”

“…Further, as a handful of recent studies demonstrates, the resonance of the event portfolio as a strategic policy tool seems profitably versatile being contingent upon local needs and characteristics, which for example, in the case of Gainesville, Florida favored the use of a small-scale sports event portfolio to foster sustainable tourism (Gibson, Kaplanidou, & Kang, 2012), while in London, Ontario they allowed the grouping of primarily sports ‗ice' events contributing to urban development (Clark & Misener, 2015). Accordingly, in the city of Portimão, Portugal local conditions enabled a portfolio of costal sports events to form and build its nautical destination brand (Pereira, Mascarenhas, Flores, & Pires, 2015), while in the case of Barcelona different types of events were combined to attain urban regeneration and global recognition (Richards, 2015). Likewise, it has been shown that rural communities employ an event portfolio approach to achieve regional development (Ziakas & Costa, 2011a), tourism repositioning (Presenza & Sheehan, 2013), and postdisaster recovery (Sanders, Laing, & Frost, 2015).…”

"Events in a Changing World": Introductory Remarks

“…It has long been accepted that events as mirrors of the social order (Handelman, 1998) and vehicles of individual and societal communication (Falassi, 1987) can tell us a great deal about how consumers and industry are being affected by the uncertainties of modern times. However, events conceived as potential agents of societal transformation (Richards, 2015) can act as lenses through which it is also possible to view and make sense of how people are responding to these uncertainties (Azara, Wiltshier, & Greatorex, 2018). May this be recognizing the need to adopt crisis communication strategies as a response to an increased threat from terrorism (see Pappas' article in this issue); or by highlighting how event consumptive practices such as munches, often seen "on the margins" of mainstream society (see Webster & Ivanov) may help our common understanding of what events are today and what they mean to people.…”