The contribution of community events to social sustainability in local neighbourhoods

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between events and social sustainability focussing on community led, not-for-profit, social events. Drawing on broad literature, I consider the nature of social sustainability, exploring five aspects which are developed through community events, namely social capital, interaction, participation, sense of place and wellbeing. I identify processes, practices and capabilities that are developed through community events, highlighting the importance of small scale, incremental, bottom-up, playful and pleasurable social engagement as a way of developing socially sustainable behaviours. I reflect upon the transformations required to achieve social sustainability, deliberating whether radical or gradual change is implied. This leads to a discussion about the potential and limitations of community events as a way of moving towards social sustainability. The conclusions reflect upon community events as a local practice of social sustainability. The contribution of this article is that it collates and connects a diverse literature, exploring five core ideas and highlighting intersections, overlaps and tensions in order to develop a broader understanding of community events in progressing aspects of social sustainability.

Keywords:

• Community events
• social sustainability
• social capital
• interaction
• participation
• sense of place
• wellbeing

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the three reviewers whose comments were invaluable in developing and improving this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nancy Stevenson

Nancy Stevenson lectures at the University of Westminster and is the Director of Write Retreat UK. She teaches tourism and events and runs writing retreats and workshops. Her research interests include community and cultural events, city regeneration, events and social capital, tourism experiences, destination image, and writing and wellbeing.