Festivals, events and inclusive urban public spaces in Europe - FESTSPACE
Short description
The collaborative research project will focus on how festivals and events enable or restrict access to, and use of, public spaces, including the extent to which they might effectively host interactions and exchanges between people from different cultural, ethnic, socio-economic and socio-demographic backgrounds.
The Gothenburg context offers a unique opportunity to investigate how ambitious inclusivity goals evolve at policy levels and are implemented in practice.
The Gothenburg research has the following three research sub-questions:
1. What lessons can be learned from Sweden as an open and equal society with extensive public space and a market-oriented welfare democracy about the notion of inclusivity (integration of ethnic groups) in festivals and event policy-making?
2. How inclusive are the ‘inclusive festivals’ promoted by the city as a means for inclusive development?
3. How does inclusivity of the event/festival impact on urban development policy-making, and does it leverage inclusive urban design?