Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
exciting life, part of an emerging postmodern urbanism in which the festival and
spectacle, with ephemeral displays become the focus, albeit transitory, of urban
life (Harvey
1991
, p. 270). But a more general intellectual stimulus to the interest
in festivals comes from post-modernist concepts, not attributes, in which emphasis
is placed on the study of
difference
not similarity,
individuality
over conformity, as
well as the
immaterial
and the
symbolic
in cities in their search for explanations
beyond the empirical (Davies
1996
). The result is an increasingly rich literature il-
lustrating the impact and varied roles that festive events have played in cities, towns
and even small places, both in the past and in contemporary settlements.
Festivals have shown a remarkable growth in recent decades and now make a
substantial contribution to urban vitality and distinctiveness. Some annual festivals
of a secular nature associated with a single place are now so big and vital that they
almost define the city in which they are located, as can be seen by such examples
as the Carneval in Rio de Janeiro, the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Oktoberfest
in Munich, the Snow Festival in Sapporo, or the Stampede in Calgary. These fes-
tivals also provide a city branding that often goes beyond the role that distinctive
urban architectural features play in urban imagery and tourism and have significant
economic and cultural impacts on the city in which they are located. Indeed, many
participants and observers consider the most important festivals in their city to be
the climax of their year, which is often true for regular festivals of religious signifi-
cance, such as the annual Deepavalli or Divali Festival in India, although these are
not city-specific. Other festivals are held in cycles of more than a year; probably
the biggest is the Hindu Maha Kumbh Mela held every 12 years and estimated to
have attracted 80 million people to Allahabad (India) at various times in the 55 day
event from early February 2013 (Bismas
2013
). This is really a spiritual pilgrim-
age for most participants, not simply a secular event. However, these world-scale
festive events in a limited number of centres should not disguise the fact that few
settlements today—even small towns, and communities within cities—are without
some festival or festive activities that go beyond those of a religious nature. In
addition, many leisure activities and commercial outlets have increasingly added
festive events to their offerings. Hence it seems essential to understand the range of
functions that festivals perform. The term 'festive cities' highlights a new or rather
expanded theme in the emerging nature of cities that needs to be investigated in
order to understand the multi-dimensional character of festivals and their varied
consequences.
The association of festivals and urban places is far from new. Festive events have
been characteristic of cities since urban life began (Mumford
1961
; Gibson
2005
).
But they have experienced a tremendous increase in numbers, size and variety in
the last thirty years, a change that Manning (
1983
) claims has been unmatched in
history. Hence it has been argued that the old system of urban festivals in cities,
typically composed of temporary, limited-time events, has been replaced by a situ-
ation in which many cities have an increasingly permanent festive nature because
of their variety of festivals, creating what Gravari-Barbas (
2005
) described as 'fes-
tive cities', those distinctive centres where a number of types of festivals occur and
occupy different types of space in the city, although this is a rather more restric-
tive use of the term than the one used here. There is no doubt that these events
