Analyzing the effects of an urban food festival: A place theory approach

Abstract

Existing literature of festival tourism emphasises on heritage festival in rural place and seldom addresses the effect of urban festival as a potent force that contributes to place making. This study examines the missing conceptual link between urban festival and notions of place from a place theory approach. In-depth interviews with urban food-themed festival goers were conducted to understand their perceived meanings of the festival and place connotation. The results disclose three dimensions of meanings: festival as place, festival as locale and festival as imaginary identity. The study confirms that urban festival enriches a unique sense of place, whilst its intrinsic value to manipulate the competing ideologies of a place should not be slighted.