The Festivalisation of Edinburgh: Manifestations, Impacts and Responses

Abstract

The Festivalisation of Edinburgh: Constructing its Governance was published in Scottish Affairs 30.1. It showed how the city council, Scottish Government and the events, festivals and tourism industries worked in partnership as a growth coalition. This follow-up article describes some of the results they achieved. It focuses on Edinburgh's August and Winter Festivals, as these are the largest scale festival events. It also analyses the project that sought to re-imagine West Princes Street Gardens. It explores the meaning of ‘festivalisation’ both through its direct impacts on the use of urban space, but also in its relation to the commodification of public space and austerity urbanism. Festivalisation has normalised the flow of value from local public spaces to geographically dispersed asset owners. However, opposition emerged from some local residents and community councils, with the long-established civic amenity charity, the Cockburn Association, playing a catalytic role. The Covid pandemic disrupted this process in 2020, opening up further debates about the role of festivals and tourism in the recovery.