Michael B. Duignan

From "clone towns" to "slow towns": examining festival legacies

This paper aims to examine the role of grassroots (food) festivals for supporting the sustainability of micro and small producers, whilst exploring potential productive linkages between both stakeholders (festivals and producers) for enhancing a more authentic cultural offering and destination image in the visitor economy.,This paper is exploratory, qualitative and inductive. Evidence is underpinned by a purposive sample, drawing on ten in-depth interviews and 17 open-ended survey responses collected across 2014 and 2015 – drawing perspectives from traders participating in the EAT Cambridge festival.,This paper unpacks a series of serendipitous [as opposed to “strategic”] forms of festival and producer leveraging; strengthening B2C relationships and stimulating business to business networking and creative entrepreneurial collaborations. Positive emergent “embryonic” forms of event legacy are identified that support the longer-term sustainability of local producers and contribute towards an alternative idea of place and destination, more vibrant and authentic connectivity with localities and slower visitor experiences.,This study emphasises the importance of local bottom-up forms of “serendipitous leverage” for enhancing positive emergent “embryonic” legacies that advance “slow” tourism and local food agendas. In turn, this enhances the cultural offering and delivers longer-term sustainability for small local producers – particularly vital in the era of “Clone Town” threats and effects. The paper applies Chalip’s (2004) event leverage model to the empirical setting of EAT Cambridge and conceptually advances the framework by integrating “digital” forms of leverage.

Embedding slow tourism and the ‘slow phases’ framework: The case of Cambridge, UK

This chapter addresses current and future tourism opportunities and challenges for Cambridge (UK) and illustrates the potential role of ‘slow’ tourism as an antidote to what the authors previously referred to as the ‘one day tourist’ problematic (see Wilbert and Duignan, 2015). It outlines how the historic and internationally famous city of Cambridge is considering a reworking of its perspective on tourism management and the development of its destination experience. This process is currently underway with the 2016 introduction of Cambridge’s new regional Destination Management Organisation (DMO): ‘Visit Cambridge and Beyond’ (VCB). Decisions that regional tourism policy makers take will partly determine how visitors better engage with the city. Current policy now includes seeking tourists whom: i) stay longer, ii) increase tourist spending in the region, and more importantly iii) encourage tourists to visit a wider area than the main city centre where the current main tourist attractions are located. The new DMO and Wilbert and Duignan (2015) argue that it is through connecting up spaces and places that currently sit in individualised silos out of view by ‘normal’ visitor streams that a ‘slow tourism’ approach can be sought.

Events and urban regeneration: the strategic use of events to revitalise cities

From the evolutionary changes seen in city event strategies, to the anticipated direction of post-industrial cites and the role of infrastructure and appropriate urban development strategies, Smith covers a complex series of relevant topics, inviting the reader to understand how urban regeneration is delivered within major event contexts. Starting with a comprehensive theoretical platform of economic, political and social perspectives, Smith delves deeper into the practical side of delivering such projects. He explores the catalytic properties of events for fuelling new urban projects, and their extraordinary nature to fast track existing priorities commenting on their power to influence wider city development and regeneration.