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1 – 10 of over 28000Maria D. Alvarez and Şükrü Yarcan
The purpose of this paper is to examine the process by which Istanbul is transforming into a world city, examining the impact of the recent growth of cultural activities in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the process by which Istanbul is transforming into a world city, examining the impact of the recent growth of cultural activities in the city.
Design/methodology/approach
The study focuses on the cultural and creative aspects of Istanbul, with reference to its history, multiculturalism and recent developments in the international cultural arena. Istanbul represents an interesting case to examine the development of a city to achieve world‐class status, despite its historical significance as a center of trade and culture in the ancient world, its current globalization and development are fairly recent.
Findings
Developments in recent years from a cultural, as well as an economic perspective provide some indication that Istanbul is transforming into a world city. However, the ability of the city to influence international cultural circles is limited by the reduced demand for cultural products by residents. Nevertheless, Istanbul's multiculturalism, history and its geographical position are significant advantages.
Originality/value
Little attention has been paid to the relationships between various elements in the development of a world city. From this perspective, the paper discusses the role of culture in positioning Istanbul as a world city, and examines its relationships with commercial activities and influence on tourism, focusing on the synergetic relationship between these elements.
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Alexandra Oancă, Franco Bianchini, Juliet Simpson, Enrico Tommarchi and David Wright
This article explores the cultural politics of civic pride through Hull's year as UK City of Culture (UKCoC) in 2017. It unpicks some of the socio-political meanings and values of…
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores the cultural politics of civic pride through Hull's year as UK City of Culture (UKCoC) in 2017. It unpicks some of the socio-political meanings and values of civic pride in Hull and critiques the ways in which pride, as an indicator of identity and belonging, was mobilised by UKCoC organisers, funders and city leaders. It argues for more nuanced and critical approaches to the consideration and evaluation of pride through cultural mega events (CMEs) that can take account of pride's multiple forms, meanings and temporalities.
Design/methodology/approach
A multidimensional, mixed methods approach is taken, incorporating the critical analysis of Hull2017 promotional materials and events and original interviews with a range of stakeholders.
Findings
The desire for socio-economic change and renewed identity has dominated Hull's post-industrial sense of self and is often expressed through the language of pride. This article argues that UKCoC organisers, cognisant of this, crafted and tightly controlled a singular pride narrative to create the feeling of change and legitimise the entrepreneurial re-branding of the city. At the same time, UKCoC organisers overlooked the opportunity to engage with and potentially reactivate the political culture of Hull, which like other “left behind” or “structurally disadvantaged” places, is becoming increasingly anti-political.
Originality/value
Through the case study of a relatively unresearched and under-represented city, this paper contributes to cultural policy literatures concerned with critically assessing the benefits and shortcomings of Cultural Mega Events and to a more specific field concerning Cities of Culture and the political cultures of their host cities. This paper also contributes to an emerging literature on the centrality of pride through the UK's post-Brexit Levelling Up agenda, suggesting that pride in place is becoming figured as a “universal theme” of the neoliberal city script.
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García and Cox (2013) have clarified that there is an urgent need for comparative studies of city/capital of culture (COC) events. With the ambition to foster exchange and…
Abstract
Purpose
García and Cox (2013) have clarified that there is an urgent need for comparative studies of city/capital of culture (COC) events. With the ambition to foster exchange and learning, knowledge production concerning cultural initiatives requires to think beyond the individual case study of a singular event. Simultaneously, the two scholars observe comparability and context-sensitivity between events as a major issue in these particular canons of research.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon the research experience of the project, this article experiments with a novel reading of city/capital of culture events.
Findings
Beyond the singularity of a case study but with attention to context-sensitivities, the article proposes a relational reading practice to study the culture-led event framework. The author illustrates the proposed approach with material collected in ethnographic fieldwork in the cities of Donostia/San Sebastián, European COC 2016, and Hull, UK COC 2017.
Originality/value
By using one case study as a metaphorical pair of glasses framing the investigative perspective on the other, an analytical relationship between two COC events is established, fostering a broader prism of analysis and connected learning.
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Ferhan Gezici and Ebru Kerimoglu
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between culture and tourism, and the urban re‐development process in Istanbul.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between culture and tourism, and the urban re‐development process in Istanbul.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper focuses on the case of Istanbul and reviews the city's goal of being a financial, tourism, culture and innovation center.
Findings
The paper first points to the facts and main attractions of tourism as being tangible and intangible, and to the effects of national and local policies on cultural tourism development. In the second part, the review focuses on existing and ongoing projects in order to discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and the role of culture and tourism. Moreover, the paper presents a discussion of the conflicts based on main concepts such as consumption‐led, production‐led, economic development or quality of life goals, inclusive or exclusive processes, uniqueness or serial reproduction.
Originality/value
The findings of the paper contribute to the literature by considering regeneration along with culture and tourism.
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Paurav Shukla, Janice Brown and Donna Harper
Image has been found to be one of the important influences in the selection of consumers' choice for visiting and investing in a destination leading to sustainable development…
Abstract
Image has been found to be one of the important influences in the selection of consumers' choice for visiting and investing in a destination leading to sustainable development. Important determinants of tourism namely, knowledge of destination attractions and image association were employed in this research based on previous studies in a number of fields. The research reported in this paper presents the results of an empirical test of the determinants related to tourism using Liverpool as a case study because of its selection as the European Capital of Culture (CoC) for 2008. European Capital of Culture scheme has among its many objectives the idea of sustainable development for the chosen CoC. Combination of data collection methods was used for the research. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on destination image association by providing empirical evidence through the case study or Liverpool as well as how consumers relate to a destination and especially a CoC. One of the major findings of the study was the identification of image association clusters with regard to Liverpool as a CoC. We brand this clusters as the ‘tangible attractions cluster’ and ‘intangible attractions cluster’. The results of this research provide important implications for strategic image management and can aid in designing and implementing sustainable marketing programs for creating and enhancing tourism destination images.
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This article explores the applicability of participatory action research (PAR) on two levels: on the one hand, as a participatory evaluation method for community engagement and…
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores the applicability of participatory action research (PAR) on two levels: on the one hand, as a participatory evaluation method for community engagement and community development; on the other hand, as a tool to link ex ante and ex-post evaluation that situated at various stages of the policy cycle.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a practice-based case study of the community engagement process of Valletta Design Cluster, this paper aims to illustrate how PAR can offer collaborative and continuous evaluation by facilitating social action through a practical, situative, context-bounded, responsive and transformative framework.
Findings
The study explores how PAR can contribute to cultural sustainability by linking community development with participatory evaluation, and it offers new perspectives on the applicability of PAR as a tool to link ex ante and ex-post evaluation, situated at various stages of the policy cycle.
Research limitations/implications
Although based on a single case, the paper demonstrates that the method has the potential to be applied in various contexts, as it helps to foster local ownership and to develop future cultural strategies, thus providing a base for cultural sustainability.
Originality/value
The novelty of this study is to link evaluation – a majorly top-down and ex ante approach – with participatory planning. PAR-E offers a continuous participatory framework for the whole European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) cycle, as well as serving as a tool for empowerment and community development.
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A new urban paradigm, the global city, emerged in the late 20th Century finding acceptance in discussions of urban development. Tied into a global network of exchange, it exists…
Abstract
A new urban paradigm, the global city, emerged in the late 20th Century finding acceptance in discussions of urban development. Tied into a global network of exchange, it exists principally as a place of financial speculation and transaction. It is marked by a parallel economy of culture, which underpins a re-conceptualisation and spatial re-formation of the city. Despite its widespread currency, criticisms have challenged its economic sustainability. Further questions have contested its tendency to impose a singular, homogenized space prioritizing consumption while marginalising other concerns.
Post-independence Riga's recent experience provides a platform from which to critique the global city paradigm, which the city embraced as it sought to embed itself in the West not only politically but culturally and economically as well. In opposition to this model's intrinsic singular emphasis and exclusionary tendencies, this text will explore the concept of palimpsest; this proposition understands the city as a multiplicity of layers, within which convergences and divergences offer a site from which to generate synergies. This will be framed in reference to recent discourse on the sustainable city and development practice. Recent design-led inquiry situated in the context of Riga will then provide a lens on palimpsest as an alternative form of praxis.
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The paper aims to explore the relationship between rough sleepers, welfare and policy in the city of Liverpool, taking Liverpool City Council's Homelessness Strategy 2008‐2011 as…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explore the relationship between rough sleepers, welfare and policy in the city of Liverpool, taking Liverpool City Council's Homelessness Strategy 2008‐2011 as a starting point. The paper takes as its premise the notion of rough sleepers as among the most vulnerable and marginalised in society, and questions how well they are protected by policy.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach used is analysis and contextualisation of the strategy document in terms of welfare and criminological perspectives.
Findings
The paper posits that the city's European Capital of Culture Status for 2008 has acted as a springboard for further consumerist and regeneration‐driven aspirations, facilitated by restriction of entitlement to access city space for groups such as rough sleepers. The piece explores responses to rough sleepers and other “undesirable” city centre space users in Liverpool and contends that their behaviour and activities are criminalised. Ultimately, it is argued that the city, whilst it prioritises its goal of becoming a “world‐class city”, fails to deliver in terms of its welfare obligations.
Originality/value
It is argued that the failure of the strategy to adequately consider the direct needs of rough sleepers renders them subject to other approaches, namely criminalisation. The article is valuable to both academics interested in aspects of social justice and practitioners engaged in policy making, in that it highlights some of the ways in which policy can fail to meet its basic requirements.
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The purpose of this paper is to address the contemporary interest in participatory destination branding. Because of a lack of empirical and evaluative studies on this form of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the contemporary interest in participatory destination branding. Because of a lack of empirical and evaluative studies on this form of branding, the current case study examines a volunteer resident ambassador program, which began as part of Aarhus, Denmark’s year as a European City of Culture in 2017, and has become permanent because of its success.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study is based on official document analyses, participant observations of program activities, and interviews with volunteer program managers and volunteers who greet cruise ship tourists.
Findings
Findings indicate that while the two managers and the volunteers all report on three volunteer roles – personal hosts, place promoters and providers of information – they prioritize and understand the roles differently. Similarly, the volunteers’ encounters with visitors are all unique, and this inevitably results in the conveyance of unruly and incidental destination images.
Practical implications
This unruliness is not necessarily problematic: despite the wide-spread interest in the management of participative branding initiatives, it is seen to be the lack of explicit brand-centered management that fosters the program’s positive outcomes, including authentic and pleasant interactions between volunteers and tourists, which, in turn, result in positive attitudes amongst tourists toward their visit.
Originality/value
This study discovers that positive participatory destination branding outcomes depend on managers respecting the ambassadors’ coveted autonomy, and letting go of control of a destination brand. Because of the growing hostility toward mass tourism in cities internationally, it is also noted that a resident ambassador program’s success is expected to depend on residents’ positive attitudes toward tourists.
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