Inhoudsopgave
Hannigan, J. (1998). Introduction. Pp. 1 – 11.....................................................................................................2
Richards & Palmer H1 Eventful cities. Why cities need to be eventful...............................................................4
26-01-2022 Lecture 1 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................10
Mommaas, H. (2008). The ‘Leisure Industries’ and the re-composition of the public sphere. Tilburg
University: Leisure studies. Concept.................................................................................................................11
02-02-2022 Lecture 2 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................15
Scott, A. J. & Storper, M. (2014). The Nature of Cities: The Scope and Limits of Urban Theory. International
Journal of Urban and Regional Research.........................................................................................................20
09-02-2022 lecture 3 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................24
Girouard, M. (1985) Cities and People Chapter 9: The uses of leisure. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp
181-204..............................................................................................................................................................27
Olsen, D.J. (1986) The City as a Work of Art: London, Paris, Vienna. Chapter 13: Paris: The Garden and the
Street. Yale University Press. Pp 210-250.........................................................................................................29
14-02-2022 Lecture 4 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................31
Hannigan Ch. 1 “AT PRICES ALL CAN AFFORD” The “golden age” of popular urban entertainment in
America..............................................................................................................................................................35
Hannigan, J. (1998). Chapter 2: DON’T GO OUT TONIGHT. - Suburbanization, crime, and the decline of
sociability...........................................................................................................................................................41
21-02-2022 Lecture 5 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................44
Hannigan, J. (1998). Chapter 3: CITIES ARE FUN. – Entertainment returns to the city center.....................48
Bianchini, F. (1993). Remaking European Cities: the role of cultural policies. In: Bianchini, F. & Parkinson,
M. (eds). Cultural policy and urban regeneration. The West-European experience. Manchester: Manchester
University Press. Pp 1- 20.................................................................................................................................52
07-03-2022 Lecture 6 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................54
1
,Hannigan, J. (1998). Introduction. Pp. 1 – 11.
What does Hannigan mean by the ‘new urban economy’ that he sees emerging?
New projects that are contributing to the so-called fantasy cities. Think about Centro in
Oberhausen, theme parks in the Asia-Pacific… Those developments are indicative of a new
urban economy which has its roots in tourism, sports, culture, and entertainment (p. 2).
Fantasy city: An infrastructure of casinos, megaplex cinemas, themed restaurants, simulation
theaters, interactive theme rides and virtual reality arcades which collectively promise to
change the face of leisure in the postmodern metropolis. An example is Planet Hollywood.
What are the central features of Fantasy City? Explain them in your own words.
Fantasy city: six central features (p. 3)
- Theme-o-centric: everything from individual entertainment venues to the image of
the city itself conforms to a scripted theme, normally drawn from sports, history, or
popular entertainment.
- Branded: Urban entertainment destinations are not financed and marketed
exclusively based on their ability to deliver a high degree of consumer satisfaction
and fun but also on their potential for selling licensed merchandise on site.
- Day and Night: Fantasy City operates day and night, in the same spirit as the Nevada
casinos. This reflects its intended market of “baby boomer” and “Generation X”
adults in search of leisure, sociability, and entertainment.
- Modular: mixing and matching an increasingly standard array of components in
various configurations. For example, one or more themed restaurants.
- Solipsistic: isolated from surrounding neighborhoods physically, economically, and
culturally.
- Postmodern: it is constructed around technologies of simulation, virtual reality, and
the thrill of the spectacle.
Two views
The advent of Fantasy City has not been without controversy. Proponents, largely located
within the development and entertainment industries, see this as a key urban growth area of
the future. Proponents are among others the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and a number of
local politicians, planners and economic development officers who view UEDs as the key to
continued urban growth. Opposition to the themed metropolis has come from academics,
neighborhood activists and writers, all of whom decry the elitism and architectural
phoniness of these new “landscapes of leisure.”
These views are epitomized in published volleys by two well-known American architectural
critics, Ada Louise Huxtable and Paul Goldberger:
- Huxtable (1997a) launches a jeremiad against the architecture of Fantasy City on the
grounds that it celebrates the fake over the real, thereby elevating surrogate
experience and synthetic settings to a position of primacy.
2
, - Goldberger (1996) takes a different line of argument. Disneyfied landscapes such as
South Street Seaport in New York or City Walk in Universal City, California, represent
what he terms “urbanoid environments”— sealed-off private environments
purporting to be public places. As such, they contribute to the rise of the “private
city” in which the disorganized reality of older streets and cities is replaced by a
measured, controlled, and organized kind of urban experience which is intimately
linked to a fusion of consumerism, entertainment, and popular culture.
Such quasi-urban environments, he maintains, seek to provide all the energy, variety,
visual stimulation, and cultural opportunities of the real thing, while, at the same
time, shutting out the problems that have come to accompany urban life, notably
poverty and crime. In doing so, the new developments end up discouraging the
mixing of different classes of people to make the city safe for the middle class.
Goldberger laments this strategy, observing that it blurs the lines between city and suburb,
with the former taking on certain characteristics more associated with the latter. Here, he
drifts back towards Huxtable’s thesis, maintaining that real cities are preferable to their
urbanoid clones because they are more “authentic,” by which he means that they possess
elements of roughness, serendipity and creativity which are missing in the Disney-style
version.
3
, Richards & Palmer H1 Eventful cities. Why cities need to be eventful
The desire for eventfulness
Cities of today face two choices. Either they develop to meet the challenges created by the
pace of global change, or they resist the impulse for transformation and stagnate.
At a time when economic systems are no longer predictable, to remain competitive, cities
are turning to strategies that focus on their own innate resources – their histories, spaces,
creative energy, and talents.
Which arguments do the authors give to explain, at the start of the chapter, the desire for
cities to become ‘eventful’? (p. 2)
Entire cities have transformed themselves into major stages for a continual stream of events,
which can lead eventually to a ‘festivalisation’ of the city. With the growth of the ‘symbolic
economy’ and the ‘experience economy’, culture has become an increasingly important
means of consuming the city. The growing prominence (bekendheid/ belangrijkheid) of
events has led some cities to promote themselves as ‘eventful cities’. (The slogan ‘festival
city’ or ‘city of festivals’ has become a popular choice as part of a city’s brand image.)
Cultural events have become central to processes of urban development and revitalization,
as cultural production becomes a major element of the urban economy, and cultural
consumption can dominate both the image of places and urban life in general.
Eventfulness should not be an aim in itself. Why not?
Eventfulness should not be an aim, but a means of improving the city and making it more
attractive and livable (p. 4).
Cities and events
As cities have developed physically through the centuries, the conceptions of what events
are and how they function have also changed:
- In the pre-industrial city, the important role of ritual in everyday life meant that
cities were designed around event spaces, such as the Greek agora.
- As cities developed further, public celebrations and events continued to have an
important role in everyday life. The medieval city revolved around a festive calendar
with a rich spectrum of feasts and saint’s days, as well as major celebrations such as
carnivals, which could last for weeks.
- With the development of the industrial city, the festivals and fairs of the medieval
city were in more formalized spaces in the urban fabric – the market and the
playhouse. Recreation increasingly became ‘rationalized’ and controlled.
The industrial revolution transformed the medieval festival into a break from work –
a period of rest and relaxation. The industrial city also gave rise to wealthy
manufacturers sponsoring events and showing of their goods and services: the start
of exhibitions and world fairs.
- As the industrial city moved away from rural traditions, new traditions were invented
to give meaning to urban life. Civic culture gradually replaced the church and royalty
as the main creator of cultural events. Cities in particular began to create events that
celebrated their own history and culture (for example the celebration of ‘Leidens
ontzet’, St. Patrick’s Day).
4
Hannigan, J. (1998). Introduction. Pp. 1 – 11.....................................................................................................2
Richards & Palmer H1 Eventful cities. Why cities need to be eventful...............................................................4
26-01-2022 Lecture 1 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................10
Mommaas, H. (2008). The ‘Leisure Industries’ and the re-composition of the public sphere. Tilburg
University: Leisure studies. Concept.................................................................................................................11
02-02-2022 Lecture 2 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................15
Scott, A. J. & Storper, M. (2014). The Nature of Cities: The Scope and Limits of Urban Theory. International
Journal of Urban and Regional Research.........................................................................................................20
09-02-2022 lecture 3 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................24
Girouard, M. (1985) Cities and People Chapter 9: The uses of leisure. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp
181-204..............................................................................................................................................................27
Olsen, D.J. (1986) The City as a Work of Art: London, Paris, Vienna. Chapter 13: Paris: The Garden and the
Street. Yale University Press. Pp 210-250.........................................................................................................29
14-02-2022 Lecture 4 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................31
Hannigan Ch. 1 “AT PRICES ALL CAN AFFORD” The “golden age” of popular urban entertainment in
America..............................................................................................................................................................35
Hannigan, J. (1998). Chapter 2: DON’T GO OUT TONIGHT. - Suburbanization, crime, and the decline of
sociability...........................................................................................................................................................41
21-02-2022 Lecture 5 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................44
Hannigan, J. (1998). Chapter 3: CITIES ARE FUN. – Entertainment returns to the city center.....................48
Bianchini, F. (1993). Remaking European Cities: the role of cultural policies. In: Bianchini, F. & Parkinson,
M. (eds). Cultural policy and urban regeneration. The West-European experience. Manchester: Manchester
University Press. Pp 1- 20.................................................................................................................................52
07-03-2022 Lecture 6 Leisure & urban development........................................................................................54
1
,Hannigan, J. (1998). Introduction. Pp. 1 – 11.
What does Hannigan mean by the ‘new urban economy’ that he sees emerging?
New projects that are contributing to the so-called fantasy cities. Think about Centro in
Oberhausen, theme parks in the Asia-Pacific… Those developments are indicative of a new
urban economy which has its roots in tourism, sports, culture, and entertainment (p. 2).
Fantasy city: An infrastructure of casinos, megaplex cinemas, themed restaurants, simulation
theaters, interactive theme rides and virtual reality arcades which collectively promise to
change the face of leisure in the postmodern metropolis. An example is Planet Hollywood.
What are the central features of Fantasy City? Explain them in your own words.
Fantasy city: six central features (p. 3)
- Theme-o-centric: everything from individual entertainment venues to the image of
the city itself conforms to a scripted theme, normally drawn from sports, history, or
popular entertainment.
- Branded: Urban entertainment destinations are not financed and marketed
exclusively based on their ability to deliver a high degree of consumer satisfaction
and fun but also on their potential for selling licensed merchandise on site.
- Day and Night: Fantasy City operates day and night, in the same spirit as the Nevada
casinos. This reflects its intended market of “baby boomer” and “Generation X”
adults in search of leisure, sociability, and entertainment.
- Modular: mixing and matching an increasingly standard array of components in
various configurations. For example, one or more themed restaurants.
- Solipsistic: isolated from surrounding neighborhoods physically, economically, and
culturally.
- Postmodern: it is constructed around technologies of simulation, virtual reality, and
the thrill of the spectacle.
Two views
The advent of Fantasy City has not been without controversy. Proponents, largely located
within the development and entertainment industries, see this as a key urban growth area of
the future. Proponents are among others the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and a number of
local politicians, planners and economic development officers who view UEDs as the key to
continued urban growth. Opposition to the themed metropolis has come from academics,
neighborhood activists and writers, all of whom decry the elitism and architectural
phoniness of these new “landscapes of leisure.”
These views are epitomized in published volleys by two well-known American architectural
critics, Ada Louise Huxtable and Paul Goldberger:
- Huxtable (1997a) launches a jeremiad against the architecture of Fantasy City on the
grounds that it celebrates the fake over the real, thereby elevating surrogate
experience and synthetic settings to a position of primacy.
2
, - Goldberger (1996) takes a different line of argument. Disneyfied landscapes such as
South Street Seaport in New York or City Walk in Universal City, California, represent
what he terms “urbanoid environments”— sealed-off private environments
purporting to be public places. As such, they contribute to the rise of the “private
city” in which the disorganized reality of older streets and cities is replaced by a
measured, controlled, and organized kind of urban experience which is intimately
linked to a fusion of consumerism, entertainment, and popular culture.
Such quasi-urban environments, he maintains, seek to provide all the energy, variety,
visual stimulation, and cultural opportunities of the real thing, while, at the same
time, shutting out the problems that have come to accompany urban life, notably
poverty and crime. In doing so, the new developments end up discouraging the
mixing of different classes of people to make the city safe for the middle class.
Goldberger laments this strategy, observing that it blurs the lines between city and suburb,
with the former taking on certain characteristics more associated with the latter. Here, he
drifts back towards Huxtable’s thesis, maintaining that real cities are preferable to their
urbanoid clones because they are more “authentic,” by which he means that they possess
elements of roughness, serendipity and creativity which are missing in the Disney-style
version.
3
, Richards & Palmer H1 Eventful cities. Why cities need to be eventful
The desire for eventfulness
Cities of today face two choices. Either they develop to meet the challenges created by the
pace of global change, or they resist the impulse for transformation and stagnate.
At a time when economic systems are no longer predictable, to remain competitive, cities
are turning to strategies that focus on their own innate resources – their histories, spaces,
creative energy, and talents.
Which arguments do the authors give to explain, at the start of the chapter, the desire for
cities to become ‘eventful’? (p. 2)
Entire cities have transformed themselves into major stages for a continual stream of events,
which can lead eventually to a ‘festivalisation’ of the city. With the growth of the ‘symbolic
economy’ and the ‘experience economy’, culture has become an increasingly important
means of consuming the city. The growing prominence (bekendheid/ belangrijkheid) of
events has led some cities to promote themselves as ‘eventful cities’. (The slogan ‘festival
city’ or ‘city of festivals’ has become a popular choice as part of a city’s brand image.)
Cultural events have become central to processes of urban development and revitalization,
as cultural production becomes a major element of the urban economy, and cultural
consumption can dominate both the image of places and urban life in general.
Eventfulness should not be an aim in itself. Why not?
Eventfulness should not be an aim, but a means of improving the city and making it more
attractive and livable (p. 4).
Cities and events
As cities have developed physically through the centuries, the conceptions of what events
are and how they function have also changed:
- In the pre-industrial city, the important role of ritual in everyday life meant that
cities were designed around event spaces, such as the Greek agora.
- As cities developed further, public celebrations and events continued to have an
important role in everyday life. The medieval city revolved around a festive calendar
with a rich spectrum of feasts and saint’s days, as well as major celebrations such as
carnivals, which could last for weeks.
- With the development of the industrial city, the festivals and fairs of the medieval
city were in more formalized spaces in the urban fabric – the market and the
playhouse. Recreation increasingly became ‘rationalized’ and controlled.
The industrial revolution transformed the medieval festival into a break from work –
a period of rest and relaxation. The industrial city also gave rise to wealthy
manufacturers sponsoring events and showing of their goods and services: the start
of exhibitions and world fairs.
- As the industrial city moved away from rural traditions, new traditions were invented
to give meaning to urban life. Civic culture gradually replaced the church and royalty
as the main creator of cultural events. Cities in particular began to create events that
celebrated their own history and culture (for example the celebration of ‘Leidens
ontzet’, St. Patrick’s Day).
4
