Edinburgh Napier University

  Our research considers how Edinburgh’s festivals and tourism sectors can advance through sustainable community engagement, such as facilitating staycations, by responding to contemporary contexts such as calls for localisation and the cost-of-living crisis. We apply a co-designed Participative Action Research (PAR) (Goebel, Camargo‐Borges, & Eelderink, 2020), and placemaking within a public engagement methodology. In doing so, we investigate the engagement of secondary stakeholders (Todd, Leask & Ensor, 2017) of Edinburgh's historic centre, including community groups, residents, local businesses, and destination management organisations.
Edinburgh’s historic spaces and places acquired the city UNESCO World Heritage status in 1995. With an extensive contemporary festivals and events portfolio, Edinburgh has since been branded as the ‘world leading festival city’, with the festivals contributing positive economic and socio-cultural benefits to the city and Scotland (BOP Consulting and Festivals Edinburgh, 2023)
Despite the documented positive impacts, Edinburgh’s festivals and tourism sector are not supported by all stakeholders. Recently, some secondary stakeholders, including media and local community groups, have presented critical discourses around perceived overtourism (Leask, 2019; Todd, 2022); alongside concerns over commercialisation and commodification of public space in Edinburgh’s historic centre (Quinn, 2005; Smith, 2016); misuse of cultural resources; and loss of affordable homes to the short-term rental market (Cockburn Association, 2021; McGillivray, Guillard & Reid 2020).
We will present initial findings from our research, and reflect upon how collaborative approaches, such as PAR and placemaking, can inform strategies for festivals, tourism, community engagement, and the use of historic spaces in destinations such as Edinburgh.