The role of festivals in revitalising public social life and the urban public sphere Franco Bianchini Leeds Metropolitan University

The standardisation and corporatisation of cities The standardisation and privatisation of public space: an urban renaissance? The ‘anywhere and everywhere’ shopping mall

The dull new public realm of out-of-town shopping centres and ‘citadels of entertainment’: towards the obese city The sad centrality of car parks Urban sprawl and hypertrophy

The theming of cities: the ‘experience economy’ (Joseph Pine II and James Gilmore) ‏ and ‘festival marketplaces’ ‘Experiential retailing’ and ‘eatertainment’ Horror vacui? The danger of museumisation The economy of controlled experiences “In return for the assurance of safety and certainty, theme park visitors surrender an extraordinary degree of control, both in terms of freedom of movement and freedom of imagination” (John Hannigan, Fantasy City) ‏ Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & regional centres

Less leisure time for people in work The problem of work-life balance The fast city and the values of slowness (see ‏ The problem of information overload Other threats to public social life and the public sphere

‘Night-time economies’: the dream of a convivial café culture, and the reality of the ‘alcoholic agora’ (and its costs) ‏

Other threats to public social life and the public sphere The ‘audit society’ The growth of social inequality and socio-economic polarisation Growing fear of ‘the other’ The temptation of ‘gated communities’

Other threats to public social life and the public sphere The decline of political participation The emergence of ‘anti-politics’ movements The growing gulf between urban policy rhetoric and socio-economic realities on the ground The emergence of criminal economies and lawless cities: the case of Naples

The place of festivals in urban cultural policies today The uneasy coexistence of policy rationales originating in different historical periods

The growth of immigration and multi-ethnicity National approaches to managing ethnic diversity are being questioned Corporate multiculturalism (UK, Netherlands) ‏ Civic cultural integration (France) ‏

The creative potential of interculturalism: see and the book The Intercultural City. Planning for Diversity Advantage, by Phil Wood and Charles Landry (London, Earthscan) ‏ The rise of intercultural festivals Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres

The transformative power of festivals H. Lefebvre’s notion of la fête Are festivals “festive”? The danger of “instrumentalisation” The widening of people’s mental and spatial horizons Festivals as public debate fora Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres

Research methodologies Researching European Cities and European Capitals of Culture The Impacts 08 experiment in Liverpool Researching the role of festivals in developing or strengthening new creative milieux and urban visions Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres