Social sustainability and a sense of place: harnessing the emotional and sensuous experiences of urban multicultural leisure festivals

Abstract

ABSTRACTMulticultural leisure festivals have been shown to contribute to sense of place and belonging but the degree to which they accomplish this needs to be examined. There is a growing interest by policy-makers to incorporate sustainability in urban community planning initiatives but its lack of clarity compromises its application for urban community development. Nevertheless, sustainability needs to be acknowledged because of its potential relationship with identity creation, social, political and cultural capital and even happiness and sense of place. This paper examines the role multicultural festivals, as a form of urban multi-ethnic leisure, play in contributing to sense of place and social sustainability. This study draws on data from two multicultural festivals and builds on a framework of emotional and sensuous geographies. It applies the concept, sense of place, to demonstrate how multicultural festival experiences are important components of the everyday leisure experience of migrants.