ABSTRACT This work is a quiet homage to those who came before, especially (Carr, N. 2017. “Re-Thinking the Relation between Leisure and Freedom.” Annals of Leisure Research 20 (2): 137–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2016.1206723), whose eloquent framing of ‘freedom from’ and ‘freedom to be’ continues to illuminate the landscapes of leisure and freedom. His vision carved a path through which freedom could be felt not merely as escape or choice, but as a profound human possibility. Almost 10 years have passed since this foundation and we offer the third version, ‘freedom with’, a freedom not in isolation, but in relation. It is a freedom shaped by shared breath, mutual responsibility, and the delicate ethics of co-existence. This paper, then, is not an arrival, but a continuation. Leisure is a right and a responsibility. May this work not conclude, but open space for others to dream anew a thought between leisure and freedom.

ABSTRACT The European Capital of Culture (ECoC) programme provides a strategic framework for regional regeneration through cultural participation. Set against the backdrop of a global polycrisis, this study examines the Veszprém–Balaton 2023 (VEB2023) initiative to determine how decentralized cultural programming and spatial accessibility foster social inclusion and local identity. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, incorporating qualitative interviews, visitor surveys and mobile phone cell data, the research analyses the transition of participants from passive spectators to active stakeholders. Findings indicate that community-based initiatives, such as the Barn and Microgrant programmes, serve to mitigate socio-economic barriers and enhance civic participation. Additionally, decentralized cultural spaces (Factory’ard) create ‘social anchors’ that strengthen regional cohesion and inclusivity. The paper concludes that intentional Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion through community-led programming is vital for social resilience. It offers a scalable framework for future ECoC cities in Central and Eastern Europe to transform cultural consumption into active community development.

ABSTRACT Significant strides have been made toward equality, LGBTTQIA2S + individuals continue to face discrimination. Leisure, however, holds transformative potential, providing spaces where individuals can express themselves freely. Within leisure event spaces, participants can experience liminoid states/moments which foster connection and belonging. Yet, many barriers continue to inhibit LGBTTQIA2S + inclusion in these spaces. Facilitators of leisure play a crucial role in ensuring liminoid leisure event spaces are safe and inclusive. This research explored the roles and responsibilities of New Zealand leisure organizations in fostering such environments. Based on interviews with leisure providers, we identified a range of personal, organizational, and societal barriers and enablers to inclusion. Participants highlighted that fostering inclusion requires a collective, sector-wide commitment, accountability, and actively challenging discrimination. Participants also acknowledged that advocacy involves evolving their own mindsets. This article offers both a call to action and practical recommendations to support leisure practitioners advancing LGBTTQIA2S + inclusion and belonging.

ABSTRACT Holocaust memorial cycling represents a form of mobile commemorative leisure grounded in cycling practice, where physical movement, ethical reflection, and emotional engagement intersect across landscapes marked by atrocity. As an organized cycling practice, it situates remembrance within embodied mobility rather than static heritage visitation. This study conceptualizes memorial cycling as embodied leisure in which remembrance emerges through cycling experiences shaped by moral purpose, technological mediation, and sociocultural selectivity. Drawing on a survey of 881 cyclists and employing factor analysis and structural equation modelling, seven dimensions were identified: participation motivation, emotional reflection, ethical concerns, recreational engagement, technology potential, technology acceptance, and future impact. Findings show that cycling-based leisure practices structure engagement with commemorative landscapes, with remembrance emerging as an experiential outcome of embodied mobility, while remaining shaped by ethical expectations associated with Holocaust memory.

ABSTRACT Digital media shape leisure experiences, making emotions in user-generated content worthy of closer examination. This study investigates online delight, defined as heightened positive affect marked by joy, surprise, and emotional intensity that exceeds routine satisfaction and is socially expressed through digital interaction. Drawing on Affect Theory and Digital Emotion Contagion, delight is conceptualised not as a private post-consumption reaction but as a relational, socially mediated leisure affect emerging through interactions among viewers, festival vlogs, and comment cultures. Through qualitative sentiment analysis and Phronetic Iterative Qualitative Data Analysis, we examine 7,690 YouTube comments on vlogs featuring two Philippine festivals, Dinagyang and Sinulog. Findings indicate three interconnected mechanisms: awe, fostering admiration and future engagement among viewers without prior festival experience; pride, strengthening local identity, community belonging, and promotional advocacy; and memory, reactivating recollections and recommendations among former attendees. The study shows how delight is expressed, circulated, and reinforced within YouTube comment spaces.

ABSTRACT This study explores how sustainability is interpreted and enacted within blue tourism through a reflexive governance lens. Focusing on three island destinations in Vietnam, it applies a novel methodological framework, Reflexive-Ecological Stakeholder Enactment (RESE), to examine how residents, tourists, and businesses engage with ecological disruption, legitimacy claims, and emotional attachment to place. Using Ecological Reflex Mapping (ERM), the study identifies ten interpretive codes, including both elicited and emergent dimensions such as ecological trigger, emotional register, and reflexive shift. Findings show that reflexivity is not only shaped by policy but by lived experience, moral reasoning, and informal governance. Emotional and symbolic ties to marine environments influence how sustainability is recognized, judged, and embodied. The paper advances a more situated understanding of blue economy transitions, highlighting the need for governance models that account for affect, identity, and everyday ethical negotiation in contested coastal spaces.

ABSTRACT The purpose of the paper is to provide a methodological reflection on the use of digital methods (podcasting) with youth in a coproduction study grounded in the key principles of Youth-Led Participatory Action Research. Using podcasts as a means of coproduction provided an accessible way to respectfully identify community members’ collective issues, enabling youth co-researchers to be active participants in storytelling and story-sharing. Six reflexive themes are discussed, each reflecting on the experience of coproducing a podcast within the larger YPAR project, along with the challenges faced and best practices for engaging in coproduction research with youth using a digital medium. This ‘reflexive tale’ highlights important considerations of working alongside equity-seeking youth in coproduced research, advances the current understanding of coproduction processes in leisure research, and the use of digital methods.