Civic Pride Research Articles

The power of play: uncovering the hidden impact of sport events on communities

ABSTRACT Sport tourism, despite being recognized as an effective activity for facilitating recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily emphasizes benefits related to economic aspects based on current research findings. However, the impacts of sports events extend beyond financial benefits, to various community benefits such as building community cohesion, fostering civic pride, and promoting progressive values. The perceptions of residents within hosting communities also significantly impact the success of these events, yet there are limited empirical studies. To address this research gap, this study aims to investigate the socio-psychological impacts of sports event hosting to address this gap. By introducing a theoretical framework and validating it empirically using 589 responses from a survey conducted among residents in the City of London, Canada, this study sheds light on the indirect relationship between psychic income and quality of life through an SEM analysis. Additionally, psychic income was found to have a significant influence on active support, indicating that residents who possess a strong emotional connection to the sports event are more likely to offer robust support. Ultimately, this study supports managers in the sport-hosting communities to obtain better resources and provide empirical measurements for the social impacts of the sport hosting, guiding hosts to engage fully with their communities.

Restorative and regenerative green spaces for vulnerable communities in social housing: The impact of a community greening program

Vulnerable communities represent the most at-risk populations facing inequities and negative health, economic and social wellbeing outcomes. Community gardening has emerged globally as a community-based remedy to reduce these inequities and enhance wellbeing. This paper examines the psychological, socio-cultural and health impact of social housing design that includes access to, and engagement with green spaces. The project was multi-disciplinary and used mixed-method research to examine the impact of community gardening for people in social housing. Two interrelated studies were conducted; study 1 involved 33 social housing gardeners in a pre-post program survey. Statistically significant improvements were found in participants' satisfaction with personal wellbeing, health, and community connectedness; as well as increased gardening skills, positive social experiences, and time spent in nature. Study 2 involved 34 semi-structured interviews conducted with program facilitators and partner organisation staff. Results uncovered that participant's engagement with gardening was restorative and regenerative. Four salient themes emerged from our mixed methods study: 1) connection to self; 2) connection to others, 3) connection to place; and 4) connection to purpose. The findings showcase some of the key principles of a successful social and nature prescription intervention for vulnerable people. Community gardening was shown to amplify civic pride and bolster community resilience. Our research suggests the broad impact of community gardening on participant outcomes for vulnerable populations and enhances the capacity of practitioners to translate research into policy and practice for sustainable, restorative residential communities.

Urban transformations and tourist impact of events. The Holy Week in Seville

Introduction: Events can have a deep and long-term impact in urban transformations, due to the effects in the urban landscape and the reinforcement of urban services. In addition, tourist perceptions of urban destinations are significantly affected by their experience of events. Methodology: The objective is to analyse the impact of the Holy Week in Seville in terms of urban presence and visitor perceptions. A mixed methodology is applied involving questionnaires to visitors, spatial analysis of reinforced urban services, routes and movement of attendees, registration of related activities, and analysis of public policy documents. Results: There is a relatively low visit to heritage sites and tourist attractions during Holy Week, mainly because most tourists repeat the visit to the event. Attendees show a great satisfaction with all aspects related to the event in general, especially those who live in the city and who come from abroad. Discussion: The key aspects to improve are mobility and the visit to other resources apart from the event. Conclusions: The Holy Week is an important event in terms of the number of visitors, economic impact, and civic pride, and improving the quality of urban services is the key to ensuring tourists and residents satisfaction.

Short communication: Five ways UK European Capitals and cities of culture have connected cultural activities with nature and their impacts on health and wellbeing, wider determinants of health and inequality

ObjectiveTo rapidly synthesise evidence for local practice on what initiatives UK European Capitals and Cities of Culture (UKEUCoCs) have implemented connecting cultural activities with green, blue, or outdoor space (culture-nature initiatives) and their impacts on planetary health outcomes: personal health and wellbeing, wider determinants of health particularly the environment, and existing inequality. Study designRapid evidence review. MethodsA rapid review of published articles and evaluation reports. Published articles were identified through database searches (Proquest, OVID, Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE) in January–February 2024. Data was extracted directly into a table and findings synthesised narratively by theme. ResultsPublished evidence about UKEUCoC culture-nature initiatives was limited but five initiative types were identified: 1) growing-focused activities; 2) activities exploring human-nature relationships; 3) targeted nature-based wellbeing activities; 4) activities connecting cultural engagement with environmental activism; and 5) use of outdoor spaces for artworks, performances and festivals. UKEUCoC culture-nature initiatives may contribute to short-term improvements in mental health and wellbeing (confidence, self-esteem, subjective wellbeing), community health (community relations, civic pride), cultural participation, and local environmental quality and use, but risk widening existing inequalities. Co-creating initiatives at hyper-local levels with marginalised groups and trusted Community Champions, active involvement, and creating equitable access to livelihood opportunities may mitigate inequality risks. ConclusionsEvidence is limited but suggests UKEUCoC culture-nature initiatives could positively support planetary health outcomes in the short-term. Equity in these outcomes appears to rely however, on action to ensure the involvement of and sustainable livelihood creation for marginalised groups. It is unclear how outcomes are generated across the initiative types identified, including through interactions between them, where they are implemented. The five initiative types identified in this work could be targeted for further investigation in research and practice on culture-nature initiatives for health more generally, using a complex systems approach to evaluation.

THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SENSE OF HOMELAND AMONG MODERN STUDENTS (IN THE EXAMPLE OF THE ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF KARAKALPAKSTAN)

This article explores the role of historical architectural monuments in developing a sense of homeland among modern students in the Republic of Karakalpakstan. By examining key examples the study highlights how these structures serve as tangible connections to the region's cultural and historical heritage. The article investigates how engagement with these monuments enhances students' understanding of their cultural roots, fosters a sense of belonging, and promotes civic pride.

Affiliative nomads in Japan: potential sustainable tourism stakeholders in depopulated rural areas

In Japan, the overall population is declining. Depopulation is severe, resulting in various negative consequences, particularly in rural areas. Rural communities could benefit by collaborating with people from other places, mainly urban areas. Typical examples of visitors or tourists from urban areas in these cases are referred to as “kankei jinko.” The more fundamental issue, however, is that many rural residents have lost confidence in their ability to live in areas with declining and aging populations. It is important to note the potential for highly mobile people from urban areas to increase the civic pride of rural residents. This raises questions about who these nomadic people, or “affiliative nomads,” are and how they interact with residents. To answer these questions, we analyzed cases of affiliative nomads in previous studies. The nomadic people showed respect for the rural areas to the residents; as a result, they were perceived by the residents as being in a stage of growth. When the nomads and residents interact, they create common values such as nature conservation and economic and community revitalization. Thus, the nomads cultivate civic pride among the residents and could be regarded as affiliative nomads. Furthermore, some coordinators bridge residents and nomads to expand their relationships with other people. Affiliative nomads may be sustainable tourism stakeholders and contribute to solving the problems of depopulated areas in Japan and other developed or emerging countries.

Geosocietal Support for Democracy: Survey Evidence from Ukraine

We examine why public support for democracy in Ukraine increased after Russia’s 2014 intervention and surged after Russia’s 2022 invasion—despite concerns that the wartime quest for security would diminish support for political freedoms. We statistically analyze original data generated as part of annual opinion surveys by the Institute of Sociology at Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in 2017 (N = 2,199), 2018 (N = 1,800), and a 2021–22 panel survey with the same respondents (N = 475) interviewed before and after Russia’s invasion. Our findings indicate that wartime support for democracy is in significant respects geosocietal—arising from the mobilization of civic national identity conditioned by salient geopolitical threats. Civic pride, attribution of threat to an external authoritarian aggressor, and war onset were the strongest and most robust predictors of multiple democracy support indicators, overriding personal loss and stress. The findings call for more attention to the interaction of geopolitical and social contexts shaping political attitudes, with implications for democratic futures globally.

Factors Influencing Civic Pride and Residency Intentions in High School Students Based on Regional Characteristics

Factors Influencing Civic Pride and Residency Intentions in High School Students Based on Regional Characteristics

Cash Rules Everything Around Me: The Expansion of NCAA Name, Image, and Likeness Policy Among the States

Name, image, and likeness (NIL) policies have expanded rapidly in the United States in the past three years. Since the state of California passed a law allowing college student athletes to profit off their NIL, 41 states have either adopted or proposed similar legislation. Politics, the presence of high-level football programs, revenue, and geography have shaped this rapid expansion that has significant effects on higher education administration. Using survival analysis, this article explains the expansion of NIL policy and finds the key factors leading to its rapid diffusion. We find that the significant drivers of NIL adoption include high level NCAA football and the political motives of the state adopting that contributes to civic pride. The major findings suggest that this focus on football and its connection to civic pride and resulting political decisions creates opportunities and challenges for higher education.

U-turn Intention of University Students Formed by Civic Pride and Environmental Factors

U-turn Intention of University Students Formed by Civic Pride and Environmental Factors

The cultural politics of civic pride through Hull UK City of Culture 2017

PurposeThis article explores the cultural politics of civic pride through Hull's year as UK City of Culture (UKCoC) in 2017. It unpicks some of the socio-political meanings and values of civic pride in Hull and critiques the ways in which pride, as an indicator of identity and belonging, was mobilised by UKCoC organisers, funders and city leaders. It argues for more nuanced and critical approaches to the consideration and evaluation of pride through cultural mega events (CMEs) that can take account of pride's multiple forms, meanings and temporalities.Design/methodology/approachA multidimensional, mixed methods approach is taken, incorporating the critical analysis of Hull2017 promotional materials and events and original interviews with a range of stakeholders.FindingsThe desire for socio-economic change and renewed identity has dominated Hull's post-industrial sense of self and is often expressed through the language of pride. This article argues that UKCoC organisers, cognisant of this, crafted and tightly controlled a singular pride narrative to create the feeling of change and legitimise the entrepreneurial re-branding of the city. At the same time, UKCoC organisers overlooked the opportunity to engage with and potentially reactivate the political culture of Hull, which like other “left behind” or “structurally disadvantaged” places, is becoming increasingly anti-political.Originality/valueThrough the case study of a relatively unresearched and under-represented city, this paper contributes to cultural policy literatures concerned with critically assessing the benefits and shortcomings of Cultural Mega Events and to a more specific field concerning Cities of Culture and the political cultures of their host cities. This paper also contributes to an emerging literature on the centrality of pride through the UK's post-Brexit Levelling Up agenda, suggesting that pride in place is becoming figured as a “universal theme” of the neoliberal city script.

New Life for a Legacy: The La Verne Historical Society and Inman Conety’s 1938 International Truck

In La Verne, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, residents have partnered with the town’s historical society to rebuild an important item from that organization’s collections: a 1938 International truck. Driven for decades by longtime La Verne resident Inman Conety, this automobile has logged over 900,000 miles since the early-twentieth century. As an expression of the collective identity of La Verne, the International has served the community as a recycling vehicle and supported civic pride with appearances in Fourth of July parades. The La Verne Historical Society recently launched a campaign to fund reconstruction of the vehicle, with the goal of returning it to the Fourth of July parade and affirming the truck’s status as a historical artifact with deep ties to the community. The 1938 International expresses the centrality of community support to the La Verne Historical Society’s collections.

Effects on Civic Pride and Future Settling Attitudes of High School Students in Agricultural and Fishing Village Areas

Effects on Civic Pride and Future Settling Attitudes of High School Students in Agricultural and Fishing Village Areas

The Rebranding of Newcastle as a Smart City. Cui Bono?

The city of Newcastle, regional capital of North East England and home to “the UK’s smartest street” located a short distance from its brand new Helix district, is described as having successfully transitioned from a traditionally industrial city to a “smart” city, able to use digital tools to address issues such as congestion, pollution, waste reduction and parking, with the dual objective of “helping people to live better lives” and of making the city more attractive to businesses, investors, international students, and tourists. While ubiquitous in political and academic discourse, the idea of “smart city” is strikingly absent from general public discussion, with very low awareness among those whose lives are supposed to be most improved. Criticisms of smart cities tend to focus on the fact that the services associated with smart cities constitute a very lucrative market, on the lack of residents’ involvement in changes that will directly affect their everyday life, and on the potential for misuse of the data collected. Drawing primarily from a range of published material such as policy documents, newsletters, working papers, announcements, websites, and brochures produced by the key players of the smart city, as well as from conversations with ordinary residents, this article aims to contribute to the discussion on smart cities by confronting official discourses with “actually existing” practices, through the case of the mid-sized city of Newcastle. It explores the uses of smart city tools and discourse to rebrand the city of Newcastle and revitalise civic pride, setting the smart city promises against actual improvements to the lives of local residents as well as their perceptions of their city. The first section of the article sets out the elements of the smart city to show how the characteristics of the city of Newcastle made it an ideal terrain for experimentations; the second section analyses the deployment of the smart city agenda in the city, focusing on the discourses and perceptions of the range of players involved. The third and final section seeks to understand who is set to benefit the most from Newcastle’s transition to a “smart city”. The conclusion presents a nuanced assessment of the potentialities and limits of the smart city.

Legacies of failure to win the city of culture: Liminality, civicism and change

The European Capital of Culture Programme and the UK Cities of Culture Programme have emerged as important vehicles in the realisation of the promise of culture led regeneration. However, while value of bidding both in terms of cultural value and public value is well documented, less attention has been given to those cities that loose in their attempts to become Capital of Culture. Drawing on the works of Turner, we conceive of the bidding phase of a competitive cultural mega event competition as a liminal phase; where the ‘old’ rules of cultural organising are put into flux, and where novel or creative solutions can be re-imagined. Using a case study methodology, the paper draws attention to the ways the bidding process shapes the cities, and the legacy effects made possible through engagement in the process. We show how the competitive nature of the bidding process (often with cities competing with their close neighbours), enables a particular form of civic pride, that is, civicism to enrol stakeholder support to ‘do it for the bid’ and set the scene for transformation. We propose that the legacy of bidding is not just about winning (or not) but leveraging the process for sustainable change. We discuss how two places, in competing to host a cultural mega event, used the bid to create change to redress structural and social inequalities. While the emphasis in the current discourse is a ‘winner takes all’, we evidence that this does not do justice to the transformative effect of bidding for those cities that do not go on to host the event. The framework presented in this work offers cities a model to reflect on the transformative potential of bidding for yearlong cultural events. • Mega event bidding process as creative, liminal phase that bring about transformations in the configuration of culture in places. • Local authorities in bidding cities experience altered routines and expansion of expertise in cultural policy and management. • of citizen engagement through civicism and comparison between competing cities is a key feature of the bidding phase. • Increased visibility and internationalisation of the local arts and culture sector shown as key legacy effects of bidding process regardless of outcome of the competition.

Civic Pride and Political Devotion: The Relics of Thomas Becket in Siena

Through a survey of archival and primary source material, this article discusses the existence of St. Thomas Becket’s relics in Siena cathedral. The institution’s inventories indicate that, from 1482 until ca. 1529, the relics were housed in an ostensory kept in the sacristy. Today, this object is displayed in the Sala del Tesoro, in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo in Siena. Although the ostensory has been examined in previous scholarship concerned with mapping the cathedral’s heritage, its function as a vessel for the relics of Thomas Becket, and indeed the very presence of these relics in Siena, remain unexplored. Thus, seeking to understand the nature of Becket’s reception in Siena, I examine the whereabouts of his relics within the cathedral, to then widen the investigation to the city at large. The evidence shows that although there were no chapels, altars or churches dedicated to Thomas Becket within the city walls, Siena still engaged with Becket’s sainthood and legacy on multiple levels.

Impact of Citizen Satisfaction with Local Government Urban Policies on Civic Pride

本研究では、地方自治体の総合計画に記されている各都市政策への市民満足度が、シビックプライドの醸成に与える影響を小矢部市をケーススタディとして実証的に検証した。満18歳以上の小矢部市民を対象に1250部アンケートを配布し、有効回答は437（有効回答率 35.0%）であった。調査の結果、官民協働による自治体経営、魅力ある都市空間形成と観光振興、教育推進に関する政策満足度を向上させることで、シビックプライドを構成する地域愛着が醸成され、その結果としてアイデンティティと参画、持続願望が醸成されるという因果関係を統計的に明らかにした。また、市民の社会参画の機会を創出し当事者意識を育むことが、シビックプライドを醸成する上で最も有効な政策であることを指摘した。さらに、男性、高齢者、居住年数が長い市民ほどシビックプライドが高いことを明らかにし、女性の地域社会における活躍の場や機会の創出、居住年数の短い若者のシビックプライドの醸成が課題であることを示した。

高校生のシビックプライドの醸成要因と将来の定住意識に与える影響

高校生のシビックプライドの醸成要因と将来の定住意識に与える影響

The impact of professional sports franchises and venues on local economies: A comprehensive survey

AbstractLocal governments routinely subsidize sports stadiums and arenas using the justification that hosting professional franchises produces economic development and social benefits in the community. The prevalence of venue subsidies generated an extensive and vibrant research literature, which spans over 30 years and includes more than 130 studies. We chronicle this body of research from early studies of tangible economic impacts in metropolitan areas, using basic empirical methods, through recent analyses that focus on sublocal and nonpecuniary effects and employ more sophisticated empirical methods. Though findings have become more nuanced, recent analyses continue to confirm the decades‐old consensus of very limited economic impacts of professional sports teams and stadiums. Even with added nonpecuniary social benefits from quality‐of‐life externalities and civic pride, welfare improvements from hosting teams tend to fall well short of covering public outlays. Thus, the large subsidies commonly devoted to constructing professional sports venues are not justified as worthwhile public investments. We also investigate the paradox of local governments continuing to subsidize sports facilities despite overwhelming evidence of their economic impotence. Our analysis informs academic researchers and policymakers to motivate future studies and promote sound policy decisions guided by relevant research findings.

An Ethnic Security Dilemma in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Civic Pride and Civics Education

AbstractThis article attempts to explore the link between education and democracy. Education is supposed to serve as a unifying factor and socialization agent among citizens of a state; teaching them who they are and what their country expects of them. The role of the educational system is important for the state in building a civic identity and patriotism among students. In Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), students complete a “Democracy and Human Rights” civics education course in primary and secondary schools; however, the current pedagogical implementation of instilling a civic identity is low, with little attention paid to civic identity promotion. This article examines the notions of civic pride and education among high school seniors in BiH via statistical analysis of original field data (n=5,749 surveys; 78 high schools in 53 towns). Identity politics and ethnic saliency are explored, with concluding views on the lack of (perceived) rights among the Croat student population. Cross-cutting cleavages and interpersonal trust are low, with the ethnic promoted over the civic.