Integrating Western and non-Western cultural expressions to further cultural and creative tourism: a case study

The term cultural industries was coined more than half a century ago, but at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the broader concept of creative industries, covering a wide range of cultural, design and digital activity, captured the imagination of public policymakers at national and city levels. Paralleling these developments has been the recognition of the phenomenon of cultural tourism and, more recently, the emergence of the idea of creative tourism, that is, tourism programmes designed to engage tourists actively in cultural activity. This paper presents a case study of a creative tourism event which took place in 2012 in the City of Manchester in the UK. The festival, which celebrated West African culture, utilised existing cultural institutions of the city and drew on the talents of local and visiting members of West African community to engage not only tourists but also indigenous and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) residents of Manchester in a variety of cultural activities. It thus used the focus of creative tourism to seek to foster community and cultural development as well as tourism

Tourists' consumption and interpretation of sport event imagery

In an era when popular and mass cultures are positioned further up the symbolic hierarchy, sport events are deemed by cities to be a valuable image or branding tools. Event strategies are often justified by their envisaged image effects and the celebrities, iconic structures and media exposure associated with sport events means that they are viewed as being particularly effective for this purpose. This paper evaluates the image effects of strategies deployed by three English cities; Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield. Each of these cities has used a combination of regular sport fixtures, ‘mega’ sport events and event bids to further their reputations as tourist destinations. Semi-structured interviews with a representative sample of potential tourists were used to provide evidence of the impacts of these initiatives. Despite some participants making connections with traffic chaos and violence, in general sport events appear to have encouraged positive connotations amongst potential tourists, including modernity, progress and vitality. Events seem to be regarded favourably at a cultural level, generating widespread positive meanings even when individual preferences vary. This has positive implications for cities deploying sport events as re-imaging or branding tools

The rise of the non-state ‘place-based’ economic development strategy

This article was published in the journal, Local Economy and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269094214533650This article explores an alternative model of local and regional economic development, specifically the rise of the non-state ‘place-based’ economic development strategy. Illustrated through a case study of the Peel Group’s Atlantic Gateway Strategy in NorthWest England, the article showcases the near-future potential for a growth in alternative place-based economic development strategies designed, orchestrated and implemented by non-state actors. In an era where both state and society find themselves increasingly reliant on non-state actors – in particular major private investment groups – to deliver the future jobs, growth and regeneration of major urban regions, this article highlights a series of important concerns that the rise of non-state spatial strategies pose for place-based economic development interventions

Drinking in the dark: shedding light on young people’s alcohol consumption experiences

This paper draws on 12 months of ethnographic research to explore the drinking experiences of young people, aged 15-24, living in the suburban case study locations of Chorlton and Wythenshawe, Manchester, UK. This paper moves beyond the contemporary geographical imaginary of alcohol consumption as a city-centre issue, to explore suburban indoor and outdoor drinking cultures. Through paying attention to atmospheres of darkness and lightness, I show how drinkscapes are active constituents of young people’s drinking occasions, rather than passive backdrops. More than this, I illustrate how young people transform dark and light drinkscapes, thereby shaping the drinking practices of themselves and others. Through looking at the interplay between the curating of an atmosphere, and the experience of that atmosphere when bodies, and practices are inserted into it, this paper offers a different take on the ‘drinking at home is bad, drinking in public spaces is good’ argument, with original policy suggestions

‘She was Like “Don’t Try This” and “Don’t Drink This” and “Don’t Mix These”’: Older Siblings and the Transmission of Embodied Knowledge Surrounding Alcohol Consumption

© 2019 Sage Publications and YOUNG Editorial Group. This article draws on qualitative research conducted with 40 young people, aged 15–24, in the Chorlton and Wythenshawe, Manchester, UK. With a focus on alcohol consumption, this article shows how older siblings transmit embodied knowledge to younger siblings. This article finds that older siblings are an important source of protection for younger siblings when starting their drinking careers. Moreover, they play a fundamental role in facilitating open intragenerational dialogue surrounding alcohol consumption. Through highlighting the important role of older siblings in transmitting embodied knowledge to younger siblings during the transition to adulthood, this article argues that there is a need to encourage greater involvement of siblings in formal educational settings surrounding learning about important issues, such as: alcohol consumption; drug consumption; and relationships and sex education, to help ensure consistent messages

Hobson’s choice? Constraints on accessing spaces of creative production

Successful creative production is often documented to occur in urban areas that are more likely to be diverse, a source of human capital and the site of dense interactions. These accounts chart how, historically, creative industries have clustered in areas where space was once cheap in the city centre fringe and inner city areas, often leading to the development of a creative milieu, and thereby stimulating further creative production. Historical accounts of the development of creative areas demonstrate the crucial role of accessible low-cost business premises. This article reports on the findings of a case study that investigated the location decisions of firms in selected creative industry sectors in Greater Manchester. The study found that, while creative activity remains highly concentrated in the city centre, creative space there is being squeezed and some creative production is decentralizing in order to access cheaper premises. The article argues that the location choices of creative industry firms are being constrained by the extensive city centre regeneration, with the most vulnerable firms, notably the smallest and youngest, facing a Hobson’s choice of being able to access low-cost premises only in the periphery. This disrupts the delicate balance needed to sustain production and begs the broader question as to how the creative economy fits into the existing urban fabric, alongside the competing demands placed on space within a transforming industrial conurbation

Sport development in challenging times: leverage of sports events for legacy in disadvantaged communities

This research project focused on legacy around the 2016 BMX World SuperCross event held in Manchester at the National Cycling Centre. In the current social, political and economic climate, the consideration of wider impacts of major events have come under increasing scrutiny. There has been an increasingly critical debate about social benefits, sporting and community impacts, methods to achieve increases in sport participation and event legacy. This paper considers the impacts on people, processes and practice, or ‘soft legacy’ of the event, through the realistic evaluation of two BMX projects which were based on hosting of the BMX World Cup event. The impact of attempts to leverage social and sport development impacts, in particularly challenging circumstances and communities are highlighted, applying a Realistic Evaluation framework (Pawson and Tilley, 1997) on two programmes. Results showed that though the programme of Street BMX was successful in reaching over 500 participant as planned, there was no evidence of transition into BMX community track sessions. In the targeted event-based programme there were positive benefits to the participants, but limited impact on their educational outcomes. This paper highlights the implications for those planning event-based sport development interventions attempting to engage hard-pressed communities