EVENTS ARE THE KEY…

The book Eventful Cities: Cultural Management and Urban Revitalisation by Greg Richards and Robert Palmer takes an in-depth look at the way in which cities create events, and events in turn create cities. The basic argument of the book is that events must be seen as more than a one-off spectacle or a chance for citizens to party. Rather than thinking about events in isolation, they argue, cities need to think about the development of ‘eventfulness’ as part of the cultural DNA of the city. If approached as part of a long-term strategy, events can provide a catalyst for re-thinking the city and its cultural and social life and making it a better place to live in. Utilising their experience of organising and analysing events such as the European Capitals of Culture (Robert Palmer was Director of the events staged in Glasgow in 1990 and Brussels in 2000), the authors explain how cities can go about creating new cultural programmes and developing them into effective tools for urban revitalisation. They consider issues such as programming, managing and marketing events, developing an event vision and strategy, measuring the impacts of events and legacy planning.