Beyond eventification: capacity building in post-disaster temporariness
Journal of Place Management and Development
ISSN: 1753-8335
Article publication date: 4 March 2019
Issue publication date: 4 March 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explore cultural events in a post-disaster town cultural events in a post-disaster town, L’Aquila, Italy, facing a long-term process of adaptation and recovery after the 2009 earthquake.
Design/methodology/approach
A time-based conceptual framework is applied in a case analysis relying on primary and secondary data. In-depth semi-structured interviews with local actors, direct observations and participation in local events and public debates enriched the analysis.
Findings
In the absence of a clear-cut urban policy framework, an urban heritage of cultural events emerged from local actors’ initiatives, with some evidence of local capacity building. Elements of events’ institutionalisation and signals of a serious risk of vanishing in the post-disaster transitioning context are discussed.
Originality/value
The study involves development of a theoretical framework for analysing the temporal process of evolution of a local system of cultural events as instruments for place-making and capacity building in a post-disaster town. New light is cast on the meaning of “eventification.”
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the research team working on the L’Aquila case at GSSI Social Sciences for sharing the research interest for this town and part of our research path. Thanks also go to the interviewees and informants who enriched this study.
Citation
Pasquinelli, C., Koukoufikis, G. and Gogishvili, D. (2019), "Beyond eventification: capacity building in post-disaster temporariness", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 88-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-03-2017-0025
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited