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Rome Statute In a city with a high density and agglomeration, the Barcelona research team, focused on observing, during the first stage of the project, the intensity of uses of diverse public spaces in the city  by events and culture festivals. The project analyses the coexistence of different events in these spaces alongside the creation […]

On Wednesday 22nd January, 2020, more than 700 people attended a public meeting titled “City for Sale: The Commodification of Edinburgh’s Public Spaces” in Central Hall, Edinburgh. Organised by the Cockburn Association, this event was the outcome of controversy developing over several months caused by the use of Princes Street Garden for Christmas Markets and […]

In the context of the 2020 RGS-IBG Annual Conference, held at the Royal Geographical Society in London from Tuesday 1 to Friday 4 September 2020, the Festspace research team has released the following call for papers for a session focused on Festivals and the city. Abstracts can be sent by 31st January 2020. Festivals and the city: […]

In recent decades Dublin has become increasingly culturally diverse and is now home to more people of non-Irish origin than anywhere else in the state. The city has undergone significant transformations, driven largely by ‘technological advance, demographic shifts, and by new forms of social participation and expression’ (Dublin City Council, 2016: 5). Through a series […]

Since the 1990s, events and festivals in Glasgow have strategically been used to renew the image of the city, in the context of a post-industrial strategy focused on urban revitalisation. However, the role granted to festivals in the city has varied according to the date, type of acts and organizers, from one-off major sporting and […]

In the Gothenburg project, PI Kristina Lindström has her primary focus on public space governance and how events are used as a strategic tool to fulfill societal goals of a more inclusive city. Gothenburg has a long history as a “city of events” and, as a consequence, extensive areas in the city centre are designed […]

The FESTSPACE’s London team consists of Dr Andrew Smith, Professor Guy Osborn and Dr Goran Vodicka from University of Westminster. The main focus of their work is a year long in depth study of Finsbury Park, which is situated in one of the most ethnically and socio-economically diverse areas in the UK. After gaining ethics […]

FESTSPACE’s Dr Bernadette Quinn comments on the importance of festivals and events in creating lively, engaging and accessible public spaces. cross-posted from RTE How to make public space engaging? Think festivals! With cycling campaigns and ‘#streets are for people’ hastags becoming more prevalent, public awareness and interest in the nature of public space, in who […]

The FESTSPACE research team descended en-masse to the beautiful city of Gdańsk, Poland, this week to participate in the Humanities in the Europan Area (HERA) conference titled “Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe”, held at the iconic European Solidarity Centre. Led by Project Lead, Professor David McGillivray, the team took up the opportunity to […]